CRI听力:Investigation Team Dispatched to Probe Series Death of Inmates

An investigation team has arrived in a prison in Jiangxi to investigate revelations of a series of 'abnormal' deaths in Ganzhou prison.

Authorities are probing reports 8 inmates "died abnormally" at the facility from 2008 until last year.

Five of the deaths have been attributed to "sudden illness"

One was killed by other inmates.

Another is said to have committed suicide, while the other died from unknown causes.

Wang Sijun is the son of the 52-year-old inmate who died from 'causes unknown.'

"My father was seldom ill, Just 12 days after beginning his sentence, he was sent to a hospital and diagnosed as having a cerebral hemorrhage. He died 20 days later."

The prison has refused to provide surveillance video footage to relatives, and also turned down their request to carry out autopsies.

The Ganzhou Prison probe comes on the heels of the Ministry of Justice announcing plans to conduct probes into illegal behavior following a series of scandals across China last year involving the prison system.