Case No 8 Teng Degang’s application for state compensation

1. Background

Teng Degang was sentenced to 16 years in prison for the crimes of theft and robbery in 1996. He served his sentence in a prison in the city of Siping, Jilin province. On Dec 30, 1999, Teng and another three prisoners — Wu Zhanhai, Liu Xianxin, Meng Fanyou — were assigned to work as a group at a cement plant. Teng quarrelled with Wu, Liu and Meng. Later that day, Wu hit Teng and the other two men on their heads with a crooked chisel. Wu thought they had died and made an unsuccessful suicidal jump from a building. The three victims were found hurt and received medical treatment by the staff of Siping Prison. That evening, Wu was arrested. Teng Degang was identified as having a high degree of disability by a local judicial authentication institution. The medical expenses for his skull injuries, ranging from 5,620 ($855.27) to 21,000 yuan, were found to be reasonable. Wu Zhanhai was sentenced to death for the crime of intentional homicide by the city’s intermediate people’s court.

2. Ruling

The Compensation Committee of Jilin Provincial Higher People’s Court said that there were problems in production safety and supervision in the prison. According to the State Compensation Law and related regulations, the prison should be partially responsible for the compensation. Since the claimant Teng Degang’s injury was directly caused by Wu Zhanhai and Teng himself also violated some working rules, the court held that the prision should take 30 percent of the responsibility for nonfeasance and compensate Teng 136,519.11 yuan.

3. Significance

This case is about state compensation liability caused by failure of prison management to exercise their duties. The authorities have a legal responsibility to supervise the prisoners, and if their failure to perform that function leads to injury to prisoners they should take a certain proportion of responsibility in state compensation for their nonfeasance.