About 1,300 inmates from around 300 prisons across the country will be temporarily released for family gatherings during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday, which falls on Feb. 16 this year, according to the Ministry of Justice (MOJ).
This is part of a recent initiative by the ministry to renew the holiday release mechanism that was suspended in recent years by most prisons due to high risks and other reasons, according to the MOJ website.
In a recent notice, the ministry required local justice authorities to select prisons with better qualities as trial spots for the program and gradually make the mechanism systematic and regular.
The notice also required strict scrutiny of the inmates' performances in prison and improve the approval and supervision of such holiday releases.
