Love is the key for those locked up

A scene from film Love Go Home features women prisoners fighting in their dormitory. Provided to China Daily

Here is a peep into the life of female inmates. For their rehabilitation, family love is the key.

Love Go Home, a 100-minute film that shows how a dormitory of prisoners restored their lives with the help of officers, will screen in two months.

It's filmed in Henan Zhengzhou Women's Prison, which houses more than 2,000 convicts. Some have become extras for the movie.

The film shows how they pass the day: They get up at 6 am, start work at 8 am, tidy their beds and undergo frequent checks. Mirrors and cigarettes are not allowed.

"They're highly disciplined. It feels much like military life," says Su Sha, one of the convict-actresses, who was formerly a soldier, "but they see themselves differently."

"The film really shows the inmates' lives," says prison warden Gu Shiqing. "It also shows how a criminal is transformed through our efforts."

The film deals with crimes induced by a broken family, domestic violence and poverty. To turn the lives of such criminals around, Gu says the movie provides a good idea of what prison officers can do for them. "We fill up whatever they're lacking."

"If they are ignorant about the law, we educate them; if they are illiterate, we teach them," she says. "We are given an idea of their past history, family background and give them what they need."

Often enough it's family love that leads them onto the right track.

"If you still love your family, there is a chance for rehabilitation," Gu says, summing up her 30-year career as a prison officer.

"When they realize committing a crime means being extremely unkind to their family, they'll see their wrongdoings and take a turn for the better," Gu says. "It's almost always the case."

She says one of the most effective sessions she experienced was a meeting between child traffickers and mothers of abducted children. "I can promise that they will not relapse after this," she says. "You won't doubt it when you see such effusive motherly love."

Love and feelings are what officers most often resort to. "Women prisoners have a perpetual longing for family and will work hard for them."

"The walls are covered with words for their families," says Huo Nifang, who plays the teenage heroine, recalling the shooting of the film. "You see inscriptions like, 'My kids, I'm sorry' and 'Child, wait for me,' beside their beds."

The prison organizes reunions during Chinese New Year and on Children's Day, and has a "children's camp" where inmates' children are cared for.

"Family love is what gives them hope for the future," Gu says.

For the 500 to 600 convicts discharged every year, Gu says just one or two return.

"I hope the film will have some healing power, and let it be known that one can find redemption through love," says Chen Shuangyin, the film director, at the recent screening.

Chen spent three years interviewing more than 300 female convicts and officers before writing the script. "I wanted to present the lives of this neglected group and show that they have the same feelings as we do," he says in his "director's notes".

According to his research, crimes by females are more than 10 percent of the total number of crimes. About half of these are violent crimes, while 30 percent are property crimes.

The film will tour the country's prisons before being screened to the public.