The Chinese government consists of the People Representative Congress and the provincial government; county, municipality, city, and township governments enforce these laws and regulations. The country has four levels of courts. In 1992, the government adopted the White Paper, which specifies that the government must provide food, healthcare, and welfare to the 1.2 million inmates in the 682 prisons. The laws include criminal and administrative laws. The correctional system emphasizes reforming criminals instead of just punishing them. Inmates must work to correct their bad habits. They receive academic, ideological, and vocational training. The average sentence is between 1.5 and 3 years. Most inmates serve the full sentence and return to society as good citizen. The recidivism rate after 3 years of release is 6-8 percent. Source of further information