Guards profit from inmates’ gaming progress
Hundreds of prisoners at the Jixi labour camp in China were forced to play online games, former inmate Liu Dali told The Guardian. The forced gaming, which would often last 12 hours at a time, was aimed at building credits for prison guards, Dali explains, which they would then trade for real money. “Prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual labour,” he said. “I heard them say they could earn 5,000-6,000rmb [approximately $750-$900] a day. We didn’t see any of the money. The computers were never turned off.” Guards punished inmates physically if they did not complete their work quotas. “They would make me stand with my hands raised in the air and after I returned to my dormitory they would beat me with plastic pipes. We kept playing until we could barely see things,” he said.