China's first prison wedding held in Sichuan
In an ongoing bid to increase prison transparency and rehabilitate inmates, one of Sichuan's prisons held the country's first-ever prison wedding last Friday, November 6.
With policewomen allegedly standing in as bridesmaids and under the watchful eyes of over 200 guests including friends, family, media personnel, and prison guards, seven couples were legally married during the ceremony.
The event took place at the Jialing prison (嘉陵监狱) in Nanchong, Sichuan, and brides traveled to the prison from neighboring cities such as Chengdu, Guang'an, Chongqing.
Jialing is one of the prisons that booked an ad in the Chengdu Commercial Daily last month calling on citizen volunteers to help counsel prisoners.
The wedding was one effort in the prison's recently launched program to assist and educate inmates, called "千名服刑人员社会帮教日" in Chinese.
Further reading and photos plus a video at CCTV.
This article was posted by Jane and published November 13, 2009
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