Pre-trial detention centers are one of the most notorious forms of detention, both in China at large and in Xinjiang particularly. Nominally intended for holding criminal suspects prior to their sentencing and transfer to prison, they have been the source of countless reports of torture, police brutality, and general mistreatment, and it is from these facilities that some of the worst testimonies of detention in Xinjiang have frequently originated. With between 100 and 200 active in the region – many of them new or newly expanded – they are also believed to be the most common form of detention, with many camp inmates and essentially all court-sentenced prisoners having been held in one prior to transfer.

In this second part of a five-part series, we review the full list of pre-trial detention centers across Xinjiang, show how they may be categorized, and cover the recent trends in their construction, in addition to providing an estimate on their current capacity.

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A comprehensive review of all the pre-trial detention centers in Xinjiang has identified a total of 199 facilities, of which around a third have been retired while around two-thirds are active and operating. These may be browsed via the map below, though some of the older centers have been demolished while some of the newest are not fully visible yet (the use of wayback services that allow viewing satellite imagery for different points in time, such as Google Earth or ArcGIS, is recommended in these cases).

As a rule, pre-trial detention centers are set up on either the county or prefecture level. To understand what this means, it helps to review the general way that administrative units are organized in Xinjiang (and China in general). The breakdown that accounts for the vast majority of units is the following:

Level 1 (prefecture level)

prefecture (地区/州), city (市, for Urumqi, Karamay, Turpan, and Hami)

▼

Level 2 (county level)

county (县), district (区), city (市)

▼

Level 3 (township level)

township (乡), municipality (镇), subdistrict (街道/片区), farm (场), corps (团, Bingtuan only)

▼

Level 4 (village/neighborhood level)

village (村), neighborhood (社区), team (队), company (连, Bingtuan only)

Pre-trial detention centers only exist on Levels 1 and 2. In other words, you will never encounter a town or a village with its own detention center, though police stations (派出所, operating on Level 3) and substations (警务室, operating on Level 4) may have their own cells for short-term detention. In the majority of cases, pre-trial detention centers are also unique, with no more than one per county or one per prefecture. If someone says that there are multiple “detention centers” in a given county, they are probably referring to other facilities (e.g., camps).

However, while most county-level units have a pre-trial detention center, not every single county-level unit must. To break down which do and which don’t, it helps to go over the 15 prefecture-level units that make up the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, as the patterns essentially vary by prefecture type:

“regular” prefectures

1. Turpan City (吐鲁番市), previously Turpan Prefecture (吐鲁番地区)
2. Hami City (哈密市), previously Hami Prefecture (哈密地区)
3. Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture (昌吉回族自治州)
4. Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture (博尔塔拉蒙古自治州)
5. Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture (巴音郭楞蒙古自治州)
6. Aksu Prefecture (阿克苏地区)
7. Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture (克孜勒苏柯尔克孜自治州)
8. Kashgar Prefecture (喀什地区)
9. Hotan Prefecture (和田地区)
10. Tacheng Prefecture (塔城地区)
11. Altay Prefecture (阿勒泰地区)
12. Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture (伊犁哈萨克自治州)

Urumqi and Karamay (special city-level prefectures)

13. Urumqi (乌鲁木齐市)
14. Karamay (克拉玛依市)

Bingtuan cities

15. Autonomous Region Direct-Jurisdiction County-Level Administrative Divisions (自治区直辖县级行政区划)

This order goes from least to most complex. For the 12 “regular” prefectures, the allocation and naming of pre-trial detention centers is very predictable and consistently follows the same standards. For the special cities of Urumqi and Karamay, the same rules often do not apply, with recent years in particular having seen drastic changes. Finally, Bingtuan areas have the most complex patterns, further complicated by the Bingtuan jurisdictions frequently appearing as sporadic holes in Xinjiang’s geography, with many Bingtuan corps (团) and farms (场) also listed as belonging to the various county-level units of the regular prefectures or Urumqi or Karamay, and not to the cities of the “Autonomous Region Direct-Jurisdiction County-Level Administrative Divisions” group. (On top of this, the Bingtuan also has its own 4-level system that dictates how detention centers are allocated, and which operates in parallel to the standard one.)

The term “regular prefecture” is not official and is simply our terminology, introduced here for convenience. Unless otherwise noted, we will be working with jurisdictions as defined in 2018, in line with the standards of the Xinjiang Victims Database, which uses 2018 as the global reference point (that year being the peak of the mass incarcerations and, in some sense, their temporal “epicenter”).

All of these are reviewed in detail below.

Last and probably least, there is a special group of only three pre-trial detention centers – in Urumqi, Hami, and Kashgar – that are administered by the railway public security bureau (铁路公安局), and which will also be covered at the very end.

I. REGULAR PREFECTURES: COUNTY-LEVEL PRE-TRIAL DETENTION CENTERS

County-level pre-trial detention centers in the 12 regular prefectures make up the vast majority of the detention centers in Xinjiang. They are also the most predictable, with each of 85 county-level units having its own pre-trial detention center without fail.

The only exceptions to the rule are the two (somewhat exotic) county-level units of Alashankou – a border city in Bortala – and the Korla Economic & Technological Development Zone east of Korla City. In the case of Alashankou, with a population of only one or two thousand (of which the vast majority are Han Chinese, and likely migrants), a pre-trial detention center would serve little practical purpose – a local media article from 2023 mentions a fraud scheme that refers to a non-existent “Alashankou Pre-Trial Detention Center Armed-Police Brigade” – with only an administrative-detention center documented. The same reasoning presumably applies to the development zone in Korla, which is essentially an industrial area without a steady population. And while there are two pre-trial detention centers in the development zone, these are the recently relocated Korla City Pre-Trial Detention Center and Bayingolin Prefecture Pre-Trial Detention Center, and are not for the zone itself.

It is also typically the case that there is one and only one pre-trial detention center for a county-level unit in a regular prefecture, with any newly built pre-trial detention center replacing the old. The only known exception appears to be in Qaraqash County, where the original pre-trial detention center in the city center (the Qaraqash County Pre-Trial Detention Center) was expanded significantly in 2017, but where the Qaraqash County No. 2 Pre-Trial Detention Center – frequently referred to as the “Bostankol Pre-Trial Detention Center” (after its location in the county’s new Bostankol Industrial Park) – was also built sometime after 2014 and significantly expanded in 2017-2018. Given the new center’s name, the old center appearing to remain functional, and the fact that both are documented as having detainees as of 2018-2019 all suggest that, in this specific case, the new center did not simply succeed the old but rather joined it.

For the most part, county-level pre-trial detention centers intern people who reside in that jurisdiction, are linked to a crime or incident that took place there, or are outsiders being held there temporarily because that’s where they were physically detained. When the county-level jurisdiction is a county (县), the corresponding facility’s name, for the county name X, will always be:

“X County Pre-Trial Detention Center” (X县看守所)

For county-level cities (市), the corresponding name will be “X City Pre-Trial Detention Center” (X市看守所), or, in the case of a district (区), “X District Pre-Trial Detention Center” (X区看守所). When jurisdictions are raised or renamed, the names of these facilities change accordingly. For example:

• The Kucha County Pre-Trial Detention Center (库车县看守所) was renamed to the Kucha City Pre-Trial Detention Center (库车市看守所) when Kucha County was raised to Kucha City in late 2019.
• The Turpan City Pre-Trial Detention Center (吐鲁番市看守所) became the Gaochang District Pre-Trial Detention Center (高昌区看守所) when the higher-level Turpan Prefecture (吐鲁番地区) was changed to Turpan City (吐鲁番市) in 2015, since the “Turpan City” county-level unit was renamed to “Gaochang District”. Similarly, the Hami City Pre-Trial Detention Center (哈密市看守所) became the Iwirghol District Pre-Trial Detention Center (伊州区看守所) when the higher-level Hami Prefecture (哈密地区) was changed to Hami City (哈密市) in 2016, since the “Hami City” county-level unit was renamed to “Iwirghol District”.

Occasionally, mostly in online listings or procurement documents, the term 公安局 (“public security bureau”) might also be added:

“X County Public Security Bureau Pre-Trial Detention Center” (X县公安局看守所)

The complete list of all county-level pre-trial detention centers is provided below, together with links to the relevant documentation needed to establish their identities.

For the “type”, we use “current vs. former” when it is clear that the new facility succeeded the old, and “new vs. old” in the relatively rare case where there is at least some possibility or indication that the old facility continued to function as a pre-trial detention center in parallel with the new. In the few cases where a detention center was replaced by a new facility either in the exact same location or right next to the old facility (e.g., Mori County, Jimisar County, Toli County), we treat it as a single facility and do not differentiate between “former” and “current” (Ulughchat County is a borderline case, and we differentiate there despite the two being very close to one another). The “period” reported is the period that the facility was visibly equipped as a detention facility – this includes any periods when the old pre-trial detention center was succeeded by a new one but continued to detain (as a camp, for example), but would not include the years after the detention center had its walls removed, for example. Asterisks (*) are used to denote those facilities for which the identity is essentially certain – usually by eliminative reasoning – but has not been confirmed via additional sources.

county	type	period	location	documentation
Turpan City
Gaochang District	current	since at least 2005	42.981717, 89.167186	A
Pichan County	former	since at least 2002	42.88652, 90.22851	A
	current	2016-	42.97038, 90.389	A
Toqsun County	former	since at least 2006	42.782775, 88.641822	A
	current	2018-	42.80853, 88.69634	A
Hami City
Iwirghol District	former*	-2021	42.82411, 93.53208	X
	current	2011-	42.917542, 93.414986	A
Barkol County	former	since at least 2006	43.59671, 93.00857	A
	current	2017/2018-	43.599925, 92.958781	A
Araturuk County	former*	-2018	43.25078, 94.68866	X
	current	2018-	43.23117, 94.66254	A
Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture
Changji City	old	since at least 2004	44.028617, 87.219433	A
	new	2021-	44.10252, 86.99667	A, B
Fukang City	former	-2022	44.164047, 87.952922	A
	new	2017-	44.196314, 87.880033	A
Qutubi County	current	since at least 2006	44.20646, 86.89309	A
Manas County	former	since at least 2009	44.31155, 86.21188	A
	current*	2018/2019-	44.32932, 86.16021	X
Qitai County	former	since at least 2005	43.99196, 89.58621	A
	current	2018-	44.00799, 89.487	A, B
Jimisar County	current	since at least 2006	43.9854559, 89.1426938	A
Mori County	current	since at least 2002	43.819681, 90.283592	A
Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture
Bortala City	former	since at least 2006	44.87639, 82.06339	A
	current	2017-	44.8200022, 82.1995257	A
Jing County	former	1986-2019/2020	44.598314, 82.888931	A
	current	2018/2019-	44.54537, 82.9161	A
Arasan County	former	since at least 2002	44.969, 81.03073	A
	current	2018-	44.96183, 81.03327	A
Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture
Korla City	former	-2019	41.775092, 86.106444	A
	current	2017-	41.708542, 86.278719	A
Bugur County	former	since at least 2006	41.77539, 84.2552	A
	current	2018-	41.807967, 84.295511	A
Lopnur County	current	since at least 2006	41.35703, 86.24641	A
Chaqiliq County	former	-2023	39.020528, 88.160583	A
	current	2017-	38.989342, 88.174942	A
Cherchen County	former*	since at least 2003	38.13745, 85.52354	X
	current	2018-	38.10089, 85.57887	A
Hejing County	former	since at least 2006	42.3137, 86.40377	A
	current	2019-	42.31098, 86.31423	A
Hoshut County	current	since at least 2005	42.25823, 86.86452	A
Baghrash County	current	since at least 2003	41.980872, 86.625114	A
Yanqi County	current	since at least 2005	42.048281, 86.547844	A
Aksu Prefecture
Aksu City	former	since at least 2003	41.189858, 80.253328	A
	current	2017/2018-	41.079836, 80.397544	A
Onsu County	former	-2010	41.28101, 80.23225	A, B
	current	2010-	41.345658, 80.240225	A
Kucha County	current	2006/2010-	41.752606, 83.022944	A
Shayar County	former	-2018	41.2179, 82.778494	A
	current	2014/2016-	41.232267, 82.830719	A
Toqsu County	former*	-2013/2015	41.54488, 82.60951	X
	current	2013-	41.560753, 82.601589	A
Uchturpan County	former	-2019	41.20775, 79.20398	A
	current	2017-	41.18341, 79.2687	A
Awat County	former	-2022	40.642681, 80.368267	A
	current	2017-	40.637214, 80.266633	A
Kelpin County	former	since at least 2006	40.499364, 79.045769	A
	current	2017/2018-	40.49314, 79.0723	A
Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture
Atush City	former	-2012/2015	39.72004, 76.16739	A
	current	2012/2015-	39.676208, 76.082322	A
Akto County	former	1990-	39.141561, 75.944228	A
	current	2020/2021-	39.11474, 75.92588	A
Akchi County	current	since at least 2013	40.933292, 78.443394	A
Ulughchat County	former	since at least 2006	39.725353, 75.261797	A
	current	2020-	39.72398, 75.26378	A
Kashgar Prefecture
Kashgar City	former	-2009/2011	39.454639, 75.968653	A
	current	2009/2011-	39.429858, 76.057531	A
Konasheher County	old	since at least 2002	39.370844, 75.862322	A
	new	2006/2013-	39.360447, 75.864625	A
Yengisheher County	former*	-2010/2011	39.39823, 76.05388	X
	current	2010/2011-	39.359161, 76.049458	A
Yengisar County	former	since at least 2002	38.937333, 76.170769	A
	current	2013/2014-	38.937194, 76.055697	A
Poskam County	former	since at least 2007	38.19785, 77.2607	A
	current	2015/2016-	38.078242, 77.216725	A
Yarkand County	current	since at least 2007	38.412911, 77.147594	A
Qaghiliq County	current	since at least 2004	37.912906, 77.348364	A
Mekit County	former	since at least 2005	38.911972, 77.647972	A
	current	2017/2018-	38.83655, 77.70617	A
Yopurgha County	former	since at least 2004	39.220964, 76.768408	A
	current	2017/2019-	39.217736, 76.845844	A
Peyziwat County	former	since at least 2004	39.49127, 76.74607	A
	current	2017/2018-	39.537664, 76.716514	A
Maralbeshi County	former	-2020	39.784542, 78.562222	A
	current	2015-	39.87483, 78.66002	A
Tashkorgan County	current	since at least 2009	37.77974, 75.22838	A
Hotan Prefecture
Hotan City	former	since at least 2010	37.185667, 79.925889	A
	current	2014-	37.163781, 79.864964	A
Hotan County	current	2012-	37.249594, 79.848294	A
Qaraqash County	old	since at least 2005	37.277064, 79.746061	A
	new	2014/2017-	37.109744, 79.639228	A
Guma County	former	-2020/2021	37.582189, 78.284892	A
	current*	2020/2021-	37.56891, 78.24214	X
Lop County	former	since at least 2004	37.077742, 80.189197	A
	current	2018-	37.05563, 80.21931	A
Chira County	former*	-2023/2024	37.00111, 80.80728	X
	current	2016/2017-	36.9724, 80.84065	A
Keriye County	former*	-2020	36.85002, 81.67312	X
	current	2014/2017-	36.835156, 81.758728	A
Niye County	former	since at least 2006	37.064625, 82.683019	A
	current	2017/2019-	37.02234, 82.68702	A
Tacheng Prefecture
Tacheng City	former	-2023/2024	46.744022, 82.997928	A
	current	2018-	46.796175, 83.072053	A
Wusu City	former	-2022	44.42295, 84.664428	A
	current	2019-	44.3741, 84.76656	A
Dorbiljin County	current	since at least 2006	46.53763, 83.63486	A, B
Shawan County	current	since at least 2005	44.3458, 85.63136	A
Toli County	current	since at least 2006	45.91995, 83.60353	A
Shagantogai County	old	since at least 2004	46.202908, 82.976386	A
	new	2019/2020-	46.15674, 83.02639	A
Qobuqsar County	current	since at least 2010	46.79217, 85.70593	A
Altay Prefecture
Altay City	former	-2019/2020	47.81681, 88.11974	A
	current	2018-	47.73432, 88.05475	A
Burchin County	former	since at least 2010	47.694614, 86.868486	A
	current	2018/2019-	47.70978, 86.8591	A
Koktogai County	former*	-2009/2016	46.99561, 89.51048	X
	current	2009/2010-	46.998475, 89.497922	A
Buryltogai County	former	-2016/2020	47.11333, 87.49987	A
	current	2016-	47.10897, 87.55254	A
Qaba County	current	2004/2007-	48.083014, 86.404406	A
Shyngyl County	former*	-2015/2019	46.66727, 90.37588	X
	current	2017-	46.6752, 90.29353	A
Jeminey County	former	-2019/2020	47.437008, 85.860275	A
	current	2017/2020-	47.41591, 85.87759	A
Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture
Ghulja City	former	since at least 2005	43.921711, 81.340464	A
	current	2011/2013-	43.902853, 81.388069	A
Ghulja County	former	since at least 2007	43.973133, 81.523353	A
	current	2018/2019-	44.001239, 81.531225	A
Kuytun City	current	2004/2011-	44.411569, 85.069314	A
Chapchal County	current	since at least 2005	43.806986, 81.155653	A
Korgas County	current	since at least 2008	44.046447, 80.909733	A
Korgas City	current	2019/2021-	44.17464, 80.64606	A
Toqquztara County	former	-2015/2017	43.483931, 82.233608	A
	current	2014/2015-	43.520536, 82.209275	A
Kunes County	former	since at least 2005	43.428986, 83.252444	A
	current	2017/2019-	43.46319, 83.28006	A
Mongolkure County	former	-2010	43.15321, 81.12793	A
	current	2007/2010-	43.180147, 81.134219	A
Tekes County	current	2011/2012-	43.197958, 81.824897	A
Nilqa County	former	since at least 2010	43.784033, 82.484914	A
	current	2018/2019-	43.81637, 82.51579	A, B

II. REGULAR PREFECTURES: PREFECTURE-LEVEL PRE-TRIAL DETENTION CENTERS

Above the county-level pre-trial detention centers are the prefecture-level ones. Despite operating at the top level and covering a greater jurisdiction, they are relatively obscure when compared to those at the county level. Documentation for them is scarce, and empirical evidence suggests that relatively few people are taken to these centers, with the facilities typically smaller than the county-level ones. Furthermore, we are currently unaware of any public sources that explain what the procedural differences are between the two – i.e., why someone would be taken to a prefecture-level center and not a county-level one – though it may be that prefecture-level detention centers are reserved for those specifically detained by the prefecture-level public security bureaus (地区公安局 or 州公安局).

We translate both 地区 and 州 as “prefecture”, noting that 州 is used for areas associated with specific non-Uyghur ethnic groups.

For the 12 regular prefectures, the official names for the corresponding facilities are typically

“X Prefecture Central Pre-Trial Detention Center” (X州中心看守所 or X地区中心看守所),

although the shorter variants that leave out “central”,

“X Prefecture Pre-Trial Detention Center” (X州看守所 or X地区看守所),

are frequently used in online listings and procurement documents.

While each of the regular prefectures is believed to have one prefecture-level pre-trial detention center, locating them is often more difficult, in large part because they are frequently housed in the same compound/facility as the county-level detention center of the main county of that prefecture. The table below summarizes the relevant facilities for the 12 prefectures, and will likely be updated in the future as more information about each facility becomes available.

prefecture	type	location	relation to county-level center	documentation
Turpan City	current	possibly the same location as the Gaochang District Pre-Trial Detention Center (speculative)	possibly the same compound/facility (speculative)	X
Hami City	current	possibly the same location as the Iwirghol District Pre-Trial Detention Center (speculative)	possibly the same compound/facility (speculative)	X
Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture	current	possibly the same location as the Changji City Pre-Trial Detention Center (speculative)	possibly the same compound/facility (speculative)	A (proof of existence)
Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture	current	possibly the same location as the Bortala City Pre-Trial Detention Center (speculative)	possibly the same compound/facility (speculative)	A (proof of existence)
Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture	former (-2018)	41.7291, 86.10866	~5km from the former Korla City Pre-Trial Detention Center	A
	current (2018-)	41.7196, 86.28998	down the road from the Korla City Pre-Trial Detention Center	A
Aksu Prefecture	former (-2020)	41.154853, 80.220339	~4.5km from the former Aksu City Pre-Trial Detention Center	A
	current (2016/2018-)	41.07692, 80.39908	across the street from the Aksu City Pre-Trial Detention Center	A, B
Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture	current (2012/2015-)	39.676208, 76.082322	same facility as the Atush City Pre-Trial Detention Center	A
Kashgar Prefecture	current (2009/2012-)	39.429858, 76.057531	same facility, though it is possible that the city pre-trial detention center relocated to the new adjacent facility to the east in 2018-2019	A
Hotan Prefecture	former (-2020)	37.106017, 79.936233	~9km from the former Hotan City Pre-Trial Detention Center	A
	current (2014-)	37.185667, 79.925889	~6km from the Hotan City Pre-Trial Detention Center; same facility as former Hotan City Pre-Trial Detention Center	A
Tacheng Prefecture	current	possibly the same location as the Tacheng City Pre-Trial Detention Center (speculative)	possibly the same compound/facility (speculative)	X
Altay Prefecture	current	most likely the same location as the Altay City Pre-Trial Detention Center	most likely the same compound/facility	anecdotal source from the region
Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture	current (2011/2013-)	43.902853, 81.388069	same facility	A

III. PRE-TRIAL DETENTION CENTERS IN URUMQI AND KARAMAY

Unlike the 12 regular prefectures, which are mostly rural, the fairly urban cities of Urumqi and Karamay are typically broken up into county-level districts (区), and not cities (市) or counties (县). Urumqi County (乌鲁木齐县) is the sole exception to this rule, but ironically does not have an “Urumqi County Pre-Trial Detention Center”, with detention centers in Urumqi and Karamay traditionally being allocated to relatively populated districts only. Furthermore, both the naming and organization of the pre-trial detention centers in these cities has changed significantly in recent years, especially in Urumqi, and tends to break away from the patterns and conventions seen in the 12 regular prefectures.

A prefecture-level city, Urumqi consists of 10 county-level jurisdictions (7 districts, 1 county, and 2 development zones):

1. Tianshan District
2. Saybagh District
3. Xinshi District
4. Shuimogou District
5. Toutunhe District
6. Dabancheng District
7. Midong District
8. Urumqi County
9. Urumqi Economic-Technological Development Zone
10. Urumqi High-Tech Industrial Development Zone

Of these, only the Tianshan, Saybagh, Shuimogou, and Midong districts have traditionally had pre-trial detention centers associated with them. Unlike with the county-level detention centers in regular prefectures, where the naming schemes are generally consistent, here the names are more erratic, sometimes taking after the district, but sometimes after the subdistrict (街道), while also having a numerical equivalent. Prior to 2016-2017, the scheme went as follows:

district	location-based name	number-based name
Tianshan	Tianshan Pre-Trial Detention Center 天山看守所	Urumqi City No. 4 Pre-Trial Detention Center 乌鲁木齐市第四看守所
Saybagh	Xishan Pre-Trial Detention Center 西山看守所	Urumqi City No. 2 Pre-Trial Detention Center 乌鲁木齐市第二看守所
Shuimogou	Liudaowan Pre-Trial Detention Center 六道湾看守所	Urumqi City No. 3 Pre-Trial Detention Center 乌鲁木齐市第三看守所
Midong	Midong Pre-Trial Detention Center 米东看守所	Urumqi City No. 1 Pre-Trial Detention Center 乌鲁木齐市第一看守所

From our experience with internal police records, it is much more standard for the police themselves to refer to the detention centers by number, often using the abbreviations 一看, 二看, 三看, 四看, with detainees previously held in Urumqi also having employed these.

At some point in 2015-2017, the Tianshan Pre-Trial Detention Center appears to have been turned into a dedicated women’s facility, in addition to being renumbered from No. 4 to No. 3 (police records that talk about the No. 3 pre-trial detention center in 2017 make it clear that they’re referring to the facility in the Tianshan District). It is not clear what the Liudaowan facility was renumbered to at this point (possibly 4). However, in 2019, the giant camp facility in Dabancheng was converted to – or likely returned to the original intended function of – a pre-trial detention center and was given the number 3 as well, making it unclear what the numbers corresponding to the facilities in Tianshan and Liudaowan became after.

It is worth noting that the terms “Midong Pre-Trial Detention Center” (米东看守所) or “Midong District Pre-Trial Detention Center” (米东区看守所) are almost never used in internal records post-2017, with the “No. 1 Pre-Trial Detention Center” (第一看守所 or 一看) used always when referring to the giant new facility that was finished in 2015-2016 (succeeding the older pre-trial detention center in Midong). Likewise, while the new detention center in Dabancheng is formally labeled as the No. 3 Pre-Trial Detention Center and has been referred to that way in procurement documents, the term “Dabancheng Pre-Trial Detention Center” (达坂城看守所) or “Dabancheng District Pre-Trial Detention Center” (达坂城区看守所) have not been encountered either. Because both facilities are incredibly large in comparison to typical detention centers in Xinjiang, it is more likely that they do not have a district association, and are intended for people from anywhere in Urumqi. The smaller pre-trial detention centers, while seemingly still functional, may simply have switched to a more supplementary role in recent years.

Finally, Urumqi also has the Autonomous Region Pre-Trial Detention Center (自治区看守所), an old (but recently rebuilt) facility that is located in the Xinshi District and appears to be analogous to a central prefecture-level facility. That a number of high-profile inmates with origins or household registration outside Xinjiang – such as Ilham Tohti, some of Ilham Tohti’s students, Zhang Haitao, and former Xinjiang Medical University vice president Li Bin – have been held here appears to suggest it being a more common destination for “outsiders” involved in more complex cases. There are also limited but strong indications of this facility being known as the Urumqi City No. 5 Pre-Trial Detention Center (乌鲁木齐市第五看守所) – however, this has not been rigorously established through official sources and remains open to further research.

In Karamay, where the population is around a tenth of Urumqi’s, the situation is a lot simpler. Known mainly for its oil industry, Karamay City consists of only four districts:

1. Maytagh District
2. Karamay District
3. Jerenbulaq District
4. Orku District

Of these, only Maytagh District and Karamay District have traditionally had pre-trial detention centers, with the Karamay City Pre-Trial Detention Center (克拉玛依市看守所) presumably serving the Karamay, Jerenbulaq, and Orku districts in the north and the Maytagh District Pre-Trial Detention Center (独山子区看守所) presumably serving the Maytagh District – separated from the rest of Karamay by Kuytun City – in the south. Both went through major changes in recent years, with the facility in Maytagh being demolished while a new one was built elsewhere in the district, and with the facility in central Karamay demolished and replaced by a socialism institute, with the institution relocating to a larger new facility in a suburban area, west of the city’s reservoir.

Orku District, with a population of only a couple of thousand, has not had a pre-trial detention center (presumably by virtue of being too small and remote). Jerenbulaq, while significantly larger than Orku, is also fairly remote and smaller than Maytagh, and has not traditionally had any known pre-trial detention facility either. However, this appears to have changed in recent years, with work on a new Jerenbulaq District Pre-Trial Detention Center (白碱滩区看守所) completed in 2019.

At the moment, we are not aware of any numbering schemes being applied to the pre-trial detention centers in Karamay.

The following table summarizes the pre-trial detention facilities for these two cities. Asterisks are used to mark previously used names.

Urumqi
name	other name(s)	period		location	documentation
Tianshan	No. 3*, No. 4*	since at least 2002		43.747381, 87.646411	A
Xishan	No. 2	since at least 2002		43.796397, 87.560181	A
Liudaowan	No. 3*	since at least 1994		43.825331, 87.629503	A
Midong	No. 1*	since at least 2002		43.965225, 87.673206	A
No. 1		2016-		43.962603, 87.782442	A
No. 3		2019-		43.383931, 88.290136	A
Autonomous Region	No. 5 (unconfirmed)	since at least 2002		43.896708, 87.576919	A
Karamay
name	type		period	location	documentation
Karamay City	former		-2020	45.613719, 84.846033	A
	current		2018-	45.530461, 84.801589	A
Maytagh District	former		-2019	44.317958, 84.890336	A
	current		2018-	44.33222, 84.82098	A
Jerenbulaq District	current		2018/2019-	45.69866, 85.15383	A

IV. BINGTUAN PRE-TRIAL DETENTION CENTERS

Possibly the most complex organizational scheme belongs to Xinjiang’s Bingtuan areas, which are scattered all around the region, linked administratively but not geographically.

Despite the entirety of the Bingtuan jurisdiction essentially being covered by China’s 4-level system, in which the hundreds of individual corps (团) make up township-level units that are frequently composed of companies (连) and belong to either

• the Level-2 cities of the “Autonomous Region Direct-Jurisdiction County-Level Administrative Divisions” prefecture-level group, or
• the various (non-Bingtuan) Level-2 units in which they are geographically located,

the Bingtuan jurisdiction is also broken into divisions (师) and reclamation areas (垦区), which are absent from the 4-level system entirely but ultimately are the analogues of the latter’s prefectures (Level 1) and counties (Level 2). Simultaneously, the Level-2 cities of the “Autonomous Region Direct-Jurisdiction County-Level Administrative Divisions” prefecture-level group are generally synonymous with the divisions they belong to – the Eleventh and Twelfth Divisions, located in Urumqi, are exceptions. This is summarized below.

division	associated city	reclamation areas
First	Aral City (阿拉尔市)	Jinyinchuan Reclamation Area (金银川垦区) Aksu Reclamation Area (阿克苏垦区) Aral Reclamation Area (阿拉尔垦区)
Second	Tiemenguan City (铁门关市)	Yanqi Reclamation Area (焉耆垦区) Korla Reclamation Area (库尔勒垦区) Ulughkol Reclamation Area (乌鲁克垦区)
Third	Tumshuq City (图木舒克市)	Kashgar Reclamation Area (喀什垦区) Tumshuq Reclamation Area (图木舒克垦区)
Fourth	Kokdala City (可克达拉市)	Korgas Reclamation Area (霍城垦区) Ghulja Reclamation Area (伊宁垦区) Mongolkure Reclamation Area (昭苏垦区)
Fifth	Shuanghe City (双河市)	Tasqai Reclamation Area (塔斯海垦区) Bortala Reclamation Area (博乐垦区)
Sixth	Wujiaqu City (五家渠市)	Wujiaqu Reclamation Area (五家渠垦区) Fangcaohu Reclamation Area (芳草湖垦区) Qitai Reclamation Area (奇台垦区)
Seventh	Huyanghe City (胡杨河市)	Chepaizi Reclamation Area (车排子垦区) Kuytun Reclamation Area (奎屯垦区)
Eighth	Shihezi City (石河子市)	Xiayedi Reclamation Area (下野地垦区) Shihezi Reclamation Area (石河子垦区) Mosuowan Reclamation Area (莫索湾垦区)
Ninth	Baiyang City (白杨市)	Ergat Reclamation Area (叶尔盖提垦区) Dorbiljin Reclamation Area (额敏垦区)
Tenth	Beitun City (北屯市)	Balbagai Reclamation Area (巴里巴盖垦区) Beitun Reclamation Area (北屯垦区)
Eleventh	none (in Urumqi)	none
Twelfth	none (in Urumqi)	Urumqi Reclamation Area (乌鲁木齐垦区) Sanping Reclamation Area (三坪垦区)
Thirteenth	Xinxing City (新星市)	Hami Reclamation Area (哈密垦区) Barkol Reclamation Area (巴里坤垦区)
Fourteenth	Kunyu City (昆玉市)	Hotan Reclamation Area (和田垦区)

As has been observed, pre-trial detention centers in the Bingtuan exist on these three levels – division, city, and reclamation area. The naming and allocation patterns are, however, much harder to predict. Nevertheless, the following have been noted:

• All divisions with the sole exception of the Eleventh have an “Nth Division Pre-Trial Detention Center” (第N师看守所), with the alternative naming of “Nth Agricultural Division…” (农N师…) sometimes used as well. The Eleventh Division, headquartered in Urumqi, is a special division that is dedicated to construction, and does not follow the standard patterns.
• Most of the 12 associated Bingtuan cities also have an “X City Pre-Trial Detention Center” (X市看守所) in their jurisdiction. The only cities where we have not been able to identify detention centers with these names are Huyanghe and Baiyang, though this may change in the future. For the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Tenth, and Fourteenth Divisions, these are just alternative names for the division pre-trial detention centers. For the First, Second, and Third Divisions, however, the city pre-trial detention centers are different facilities, and should not be treated as synonymous with the division ones. For example, while the Shihezi City No. 1 Pre-Trial Detention Center (石河子市第一看守所) and the Eighth Division No. 1 Pre-Trial Detention Center (第八师第一看守所) are the same facility, the Second Division Pre-Trial Detention Center and the Tiemenguan City Pre-Trial Detention Center are not. The Xinxing City Pre-Trial Detention Center is likely the Thirteenth Division Pre-Trial Detention Center, but this has not been confirmed.

• Of the 30 reclamation areas, half have been identified as having a pre-trial detention center named after them (marked in bold in the table above), usually as the “X Reclamation Area Pre-Trial Detention Center” (X垦区看守所). Those that do not have pre-trial detention centers may sometimes still have administrative-detention centers, such as in Jinyinchuan. In most cases, the reclamation area pre-trial detention centers are different facilities from the division and city ones, with the three exceptions being the Hami Reclamation Area Pre-Trial Detention Center (the same facility as the Thirteenth Division Pre-Trial Detention Center), the Kashgar Reclamation Area Pre-Trial Detention Center (the same facility as the Third Division Pre-Trial Detention Center), and the Sanping Pre-Trial Detention Center (the same facility as the Twelfth Division Pre-Trial Detention Center). The identity of the Tumshuq Reclamation Area Pre-Trial Detention Center is currently an open question – it likely refers to the Tumshuq City Pre-Trial Detention Center, but may also refer to the large new facility erected next to Gemilik Prison.
• In most cases, reclamation-area detention centers are small and old, with many possibly no longer active, their functions presumably absorbed by newly constructed division or city detention centers. The newly-built Aksu Reclamation Area Pre-Trial Detention Center, a very large facility just south of Aral City, is an exception.
• Northern Urumqi is home to the Bingtuan Pre-Trial Detention Center (兵团看守所), an old and small facility whose exact jurisdiction we’ve been unable to identify. Judging by the name, it is very likely the central pre-trial detention center for the Bingtuan in Xinjiang, analogous to the Autonomous Region Pre-Trial Detention Center for the non-Bingtuan portion of Xinjiang.

The full list of identified Bingtuan pre-trial detention facilities, believed to be comprehensive or almost so, is provided below.

name	other name(s)	period	location	documentation
First Division
First Division		since at least 2003	41.15288, 80.22057	A, B
Aral City		since at least 2006	40.563728, 81.251761	A
Aksu Reclamation Area		2020/2021-	40.49669, 81.25427	A
Second Division
Second Division		1984-	41.774811, 86.118811	A
Tiemenguan City		2017-	41.88237, 85.59479	A
Ulughkol Reclamation Area		since at least 2004	40.83985, 87.0764	A, B
Third Division
Third Division		2021/2022-	39.12824, 77.92132	A
Tumshuq City	Tumshuq Reclamation Area (unconfirmed)	since at least 2006	39.876125, 79.125722	A
Kashgar Reclamation Area	Third Division (former)	since at least 2002	39.367647, 76.010417	A
New Tumshuq City (official name unknown)		2022/2023-	39.79334, 79.07072	X
Fourth Division
Fourth Division (former)		-2018/2019	43.974353, 81.245803	A
Kokdala City	Fourth Division	2018/2019-	43.97247, 81.00216	A, B
Korgas Reclamation Area		-2018/2019	44.13343, 80.7726	A
Mongolkure Reclamation Area		since at least 2005	43.01759, 80.95314	A
Fifth Division
Fifth Division	Shuanghe City	2018-	44.85378, 82.34526	A, B, C
Tasqai Reclamation Area	Fifth Division (former, unconfirmed)	since at least 2006 (likely 1988)	44.82786, 82.34858	A, B
Sixth Division
Sixth Division	Wujiaqu City	since at least 2004	44.17656, 87.51571	A
Fangcaohu Reclamation Area		since at least 2006	44.52867, 86.64786	A
Qitai Reclamation Area		since at least 2003	43.96501, 89.69365	A
Seventh Division
Seventh Division		2013/2014-	44.450969, 84.964983	A
Seventh Division (former)		-2015/2016	44.44903, 84.89988	A
Chepaizi Reclamation Area		since at least 2013	44.98091, 84.50714	A
Eighth Division
Shihezi City No. 1	Eighth Division No. 1	2018/2019-	44.24395, 85.95938	A, B
Shihezi City No. 1 (former)		1998-	44.3164, 86.030908	A
Shihezi City No. 2	Shihezi City Urban (城区)	since at least 2007	44.2821, 86.02299	A, B, C
Xiayedi Reclamation Area		since at least 2005	44.68563, 85.45926	A, B
Mosuowan Reclamation Area		since at least 2008	44.600125, 86.100597	A
Ninth Division
Ninth Division		since at least 2006	46.51112, 83.6041	A
Tenth Division
Tenth Division	Beitun City	2017/2018-	47.32826, 87.78591	A, B
Tenth Division (former)	Beitun City (former)	since at least 2003	47.35645, 87.82158	A, B, C
Twelfth Division
Twelfth Division	Sanping	2007/2008-	43.95584, 87.31785	A, B
Twelfth Division (former, likely)		since at least 2002	43.88345, 87.39385	A
Thirteenth Division
Thirteenth Division	Hami Reclamation Area, Xinxing City (likely)	1984-	42.86279, 93.51707	A, B, C, D, E
Fourteenth Division
Fourteenth Division	Kunyu City (likely)	2021-	37.2334, 79.31463	A
Fourteenth Division (former)	Kunyu City (former)	since at least 2011	37.218322, 79.298278	A
general
Bingtuan		since at least 2002	43.90849, 87.53047	A

V. RAILWAY PRE-TRIAL DETENTION CENTERS (AND MISCELLANEOUS)

While only responsible for a tiny fraction of detentions, police and judicial organs exist for railways as well, with crimes committed on trains among those in their jurisdiction. This also includes running their own pre-trial detention centers, though these are generally few and small in size, with three having been documented in Xinjiang – in Urumqi, Hami, and Kashgar (in the order they were built).

name	period	location	documentation
Urumqi Railway Pre-Trial Detention Center 乌鲁木齐铁路看守所	since at least 2002	43.866606, 87.435669	A
Hami Railway Pre-Trial Detention Center 哈密铁路看守所	2002/2009-	42.912192, 93.3993	A
Kashgar Railway Pre-Trial Detention Center 喀什铁路看守所	2022-	39.43084, 76.05997	A

The short name format “X Railway Pre-Trial Detention Center” (X铁路看守所) is frequently used, but the longer “X Railway Public Security Department Pre-Trial Detention Center” (X铁路公安处看守所) is also used in formal names and documents.

As a general observation, these detention centers only consist of a single detention block attached to a single administrative building. In the case of Urumqi and Hami, which are relatively old, there seem to be partial indications of the centers having been abandoned in recent years, with some disarray and debris noted inside the compound (and the gate of the compound being open in the case of Hami). Though this could be read as an indication of railway detention centers being phased out, the recent construction of the facility in Kashgar appears to suggest otherwise. It is also worth mentioning that these facilities are not necessarily located adjacent to the railroad or in the immediate vicinity of a train station – only in Urumqi is the detention center just north of Urumqi West Station (乌鲁木齐西站).

Finally, in concluding our review, we note the construction of a recent pre-trial detention center in Atush City’s Kunshan Industrial Park, where the Atush City / Kizilsu Prefecture Pre-Trial Detention Center is also located. At the time of writing, we have not been able to identify the facility, find any documentation for it, or form an educated guess of what it may be. Among the possibilities, it could be a new facility for the prefecture pre-trial detention center, or a new railway pre-trial detention center for Atush City. However, these are only rough guesses, and its identity remains an open question for now.

RECENT TRENDS: EXPANSION AND SUBURBAN RELOCATION

Two main trends have been noted for pre-trial detention centers in Xinjiang over the past decade.

The first, and more serious, has been the ubiquitous construction of new facilities and significant expansion of existing ones, with newly constructed detention centers also frequently many times larger than their predecessors. Because the outdoor recreational spaces of cells in pre-trial detention centers can typically be seen and counted from space, it is possible to estimate the standard inmate capacities of these facilities by noting the cell widths and using the official construction standards, which specify smaller cells (4.2 meters wide, typical in older designs) as meant for 8 people and larger cells (6 meters wide, standard in newer facilities) as meant for 16.

Doing this for all of the abovementioned facilities, we can make a plot of the estimated capacity and how it has changed since 2010. A detailed table of the corresponding calculations, split into small (S) and big (B) cells, is also available. Because some of the satellite imagery is murky and thereby gives rise to subjectivity, we encourage others to go through the process and verify the results, noting however that the subjective differences are probably too small to significantly influence the results.

Specifically, we see an explosion in pre-trial detention center capacity that starts at around the time of the “People’s War on Terror” in 2014 and ends in 2021 or so, with total capacity increasing fivefold in a ten-year period.

As stated in the pre-trial detention center construction standards, the normal expansion rate for detention centers is around 20% of the detainee population, with each new center being approximately 20% larger than the previous if the holding capacity is reached. A simple calculation allows us to estimate the number of pre-trial detention center lives (T) necessary to achieve Xinjiang’s fivefold increase in capacity (C) under standard conditions:

5C = 1.2^T C \Rightarrow T \approx 8.8

In other words, if we estimate the typical pre-trial detention center in China to have a life of 10 years, it would take around 88 years to achieve the expansion that Xinjiang has achieved in 10. If, more realistically, we take the average life as being around 20 years, it would take 176 years. In either case, pre-trial detention center expansion for Xinjiang in the 2010s has been on an entire order of magnitude higher than prescribed for normal conditions.

Unfortunately, the holding capacity is a poor indicator of actual detention numbers during periods of mass incarceration, with police records, internal reports, eyewitness testimonies, and social-media blogs from Xinjiang-aid police all indicating severe overcrowding, with 4 times the holding capacity common. Applying this observation to the peak detention period of 2017-2019 suggests that the total number held in pre-trial detention during this period, for any given point in time, was almost certainly in the hundreds of thousands. Given the drop in new detentions post 2019, it is unlikely that such overcrowding persisted into 2020 and later, however, with the current capacity (of approximately 100000) likely providing a reliable upper estimate on actual detention numbers.

On the whole, the increase in capacity has not been very homogeneous, with the 15 largest facilities representing about half of the total capacity. Notably, the expansion has given birth to mega-facilities that dwarf previous designs, contain numerous detention blocks, and eschew standards. For the non-Bingtuan facilities, these include the multi-storied detention center in Yarkand (~10856 people), the detention center in Urumqi’s Dabancheng (9984), the Bostankol detention center in Qaraqash (4448), and the center for Qaghiliq County (3200).

Such mega-jails have also appeared in the Bingtuan jurisdictions. While not coming close to the 10000 mark (as Yarkand and Dabancheng), their capacities still go into the thousands, with the Aksu Reclamation Area facility and the new facility in Tumshuq City being the largest (~1888 people), followed by the new Fourteenth Division detention center (1600), and the No. 1 detention center in Shihezi (1152). Given how Bingtuan jurisdictions are mostly Han Chinese (around 95% in the case of Shihezi), this strongly suggests that these new facilities are intended to assist the non-Bingtuan ones.

The second trend noted has been the relocation of pre-trial detention centers from urban to suburban areas, with newly constructed facilities typically being built – unlike their predecessors – outside of city areas. A partial explanation, though not confirmed, are new requirements introduced with the 2013 edition of the construction standards (the version used for the majority of the recent construction).

Specifically, while previous construction standards from 2000 and 2003 have also stipulated that detention centers shouldn’t be built close to “high-rise buildings, outdoor-activity sites, and areas with high activity or population density”, the 2013 version introduced a number of other things to avoid (“polluting objects, flammable and explosive objects, sources of strong noise, high-voltage wires, radio jammers, fiber optic cables, oil pipelines, and water conservancy facilities”), which may have prompted the active relocation of these facilities to the city exterior in more recent years. The general development in Xinjiang and in China at large is also likely to have played a role, with cities becoming more “busy” and the standards becoming more difficult to satisfy even without the new requirements, and with the general improvements in infrastructure also making relocation to more remote facilities permissible (without losing easy access to electricity, plumbing, transportation, telecommunications, hospitals, and other public services – also a requirement). In many cases, the new facilities have been erected in industrial parks.

In total, we have identified close to 50 facilities that made the urban-to-suburban relocation at some point in 2010-2020.

As a general rule, pre-trial detention centers around China follow the same construction standards and are very easy to identify and analyze as a result – something that has greatly facilitated the research and documentation presented in this article. In the next part, we will explore this facet further, describing the layout of a typical pre-trial detention facility in greater detail.

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