The Great Escape

Echoing the epic trials and tribulations of Steve McQueen’s great world war two adventure, 14 young inmates from china have attempted a daring break from their prison cells. However, instead of being war heroes who escape their evil Nazi prison guards, these 14 youths were internet geeks imprisoned in an internet rehabilitation centre. Nevertheless, the escape was certainly dramatic, involved them capturing their guard then tying him to a bed and made a break for freedom.

The plan was running smoothly, with the fugitives breaking free from the compound and getting a taxi to help them flee the area. However, it was this move which eventually led to their capture, having fled the taxi without paying, the driver alerted the local police of the groups whereabouts and as such, they were soon apprehended and sent back to internet prison.

The escapists claimed the brutal regime imposed on them including 5am wake up calls followed by hours of drills and anti-internet rhetoric hammered into them. This phenomenon isn’t rare in china with an estimated 24 million Chinese people suffering from internet addiction. Furthermore, cases of brutality at these camps are common and following a story of a young 16 year old internet addict who was beaten to death by the prisons supervisors last year for “running too slowly”, one can understand the willingness of these 14 youths to escape. Equally shocking were the claims by people at these rehabilitation centres last year of electric shock treatment as part of the methods used by their guards to rid them of their addiction. The shock treatment was applied for any of 86 possible offences which included sitting on the warden’s chair or locking the bathroom door. Part of the ritual involved in the therapy for these addicts involved kneeling before their parents when the therapy was finished, declaring the obedience to their parents and apologising for their wrongdoings.

If this is how China deals with its internet addicts, one can only presume the treatment for drug-users is far worse.