Henan courts to abolish practice of forcing defendants to shave heads and wear prison suits

Courts in central China’s Henan province have developed a pilot scheme that would abolish the decades-long court protocol of forcing defendants charged with criminal offences to wear prison suits and have their heads shaved at hearings, reported on Tuesday, quoting a top provincial court official.

“Before a defendant receives a sentence or is put in prison, no one can pre-judge him as a criminal,” said Zhang Liyong, director of Henan High People’s Court.

“A defendant wearing a prison suit and having a shaved head or being locked up in a cage in court are all signs of ‘presumption of guilt’.”

The Henan high court however is yet to set a date for the pilot scheme, which is believed to be the first on the mainland. The scheme arose after increasing public dismay over double standards as some of the elite have often been exempted from observing the court protocol.

For example, former Chongqing party secretary and a former Politburo member of the Communist Party Bo Xilai, who is serving a life sentence for corruption, embezzlement and abuse of power, was not forced to wear a prison suit nor have his head shaved during his court appearances in August and September this year.