Three prison officers investigated after prisoner fraud case   

黑龍江在押犯獵艷案調查：3名獄警被立案偵查

記者27日晚從黑龍江省人民檢察院最新證實，訥河監獄服刑人員王某涉嫌敲詐勒索案件官方調查結果公布——齊齊哈爾市檢察機關以涉嫌玩忽職守罪對訥河監獄五監區一分監區區長、副監區長及看守大隊巡邏隊看守員3人被立案偵查。[查看全文]

Three prison guards have been put under investigation for suspected negligence and abuse of power after being implicated in a prisoner's fraud racket, the Supreme People's Procuratorate revealed on Tuesday.

The three worked at Nehe Prison in Tsitsihar City, in the northeast province of Heilongjiang.

Suspicions were raised last week when a prisoner, surnamed Wang, was reported to have been chatting and subsequently blackmailing women that lived near the prison, via the cellphone app WeChat.

Wang threatened the women that he would spread videos and pictures that they had sent of themselves naked if they did not visit him in prison. He succeeded in cheating two of the women out of over 110,000 yuan (about 18,000 U.S. dollars), according to local prosecuting authorities.

Media reports said Wang owned five mobile phones and had even had sex with one female visitor.

Cellphones are banned in prisons and visiting times are monitored by the prison guards. Wang's case has caused public outcry about lax supervision and corruption in China's prisons.