Editing Laogai (section)

=== Market reform era ===
Structural changes following the introduction of market reforms have reduced [[tax revenue]] to local governments, increasing pressure for local governments to supplement their income from elsewhere. At the same time, prisoners usually do not make a good [[workforce]]. The products manufactured by prison labor in China are of  low quality and have become unsalable on the open market in competition with products made by non-imprisoned paid labor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/55/322.html|author=Philip P. Pan|title=China's Laborers Pay Price for Market Reforms|access-date=August 20, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706112844/http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/55/322.html|archive-date=July 6, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1994 the ''laogai'' camps were renamed "prisons".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.guchusum.org/AboutUs/ChinesePrisonsinTibet/tabid/81/Default.aspx |title=Chinese Political Prisons |access-date=August 20, 2008 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070625024206/http://www.guchusum.org/AboutUs/ChinesePrisonsinTibet/tabid/81/Default.aspx |archive-date=June 25, 2007 }} ().</ref> However, Chinese criminal law still stipulates that prisoners able to work shall "accept education and reform through labor".<ref>{{cite act |title=Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China |date=1997 |article=46 |url=http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/Law/2007-12/13/content_1384075.htm |access-date=2016-06-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829035521/http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/Law/2007-12/13/content_1384075.htm |archive-date=August 29, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The existence of an extensive network of forced-labor camps producing consumer goods for export to Europe and the United States became classified.<ref name=AJE21Slave>{{cite news|title=Prison slaves: China is the world's factory, but does a dark secret lurk behind this apparent success story?|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/slaverya21stcenturyevil/2011/10/2011101091153782814.html|access-date=May 8, 2012|newspaper=Al Jazeera English|date=March 25, 2012|format=Part of the series: Slavery: A 21st Century Evil|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509120629/http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/slaverya21stcenturyevil/2011/10/2011101091153782814.html|archive-date=May 9, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="chongqing">{{cite web|url=http://laogai.org/news/newsdetail.php?id=2796 |title=Chongqing: China allows counsel for reeducation-through-labor cases |date=April 4, 2007 |publisher=Laogai Research Foundation |access-date=October 22, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430025922/http://www.laogai.org/news/newsdetail.php?id=2796 |archive-date=April 30, 2009 }} Translated from Chinese, original source was {{cite web | url=http://www.voanews.com/chinese/archive/2007-04/w2007-04-04-voa29.cfm?CFID=55232049&CFTOKEN=80981409 | title=中国重庆允许律师代理劳动教养案 | date=April 4, 2008 | access-date=April 4, 2007 | author=海涛 | publisher=Voice of America}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=2020-03-02|title=Uighurs in 'forced labour for Western brands'|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51697800|access-date=2020-06-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200617181615/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51697800|archive-date=June 17, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Publication of information about China's prison system by [[Al Jazeera English]] resulted in its expulsion from China on May 7, 2012.<ref name=NYTAJE>{{cite news|title=China Expels Al Jazeera Channel|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/world/asia/china-expels-al-jazeera-english-language-channel.html|access-date=May 8, 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 7, 2012|author=Michael Wines|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508011052/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/world/asia/china-expels-al-jazeera-english-language-channel.html|archive-date=May 8, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/05/201257195136608563.html "Al Jazeera English to close China bureau"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508103635/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/05/201257195136608563.html |date=May 8, 2012 }} Al Jazeera English May 8, 2012</ref>