A Study On The Idea Of State And County Officials Administering Prison In Song Dynasty

In the Song Dynasty,the state and county jails were dark and corrupt,including prison overcrowding and prisoner abuse,extrajudicial torture and official dereliction of duty,which seriously corroded the state machinery and destroyed the feudal legal system.In the practice of local prison administration,state and county officials,as the holders of power,played a key role in the whole judicial process,and their ideas and methods of prison administration had a great impact on the practice of prison administration in the Song Dynasty.Based on the uniqueness of the official admonitions,the methods recorded in books can more truly reflect the officials’ idea of prison administration.This paper will try to make a systematic study on the idea of prison governance of state and county officials in Song Dynasty by taking official admonitions as historical materials.The Song Dynasty official admonitions on the prison part is very comprehensive,mainly involved in prison management,warders management and prison affairs treatment of three aspects.The officials treated prisoners with clemency and mercy,strict with oneself while administering officials,in order to establish the authority of officials and reduce the disorderly behavior of warders.However,in practice,severe punishment and wounding of prisoners often occur.This is related to the change of law,the diversity of prison administration thoughts and the malady of prison administration in Song Dynasty.In the treatment of warders,officials adopted the concept of prevention and control,in order to establish the authority of officials and reduce the disorderly behavior of warders.However,in practice,there still appeared the dilemma that petty officials were strong and officials weak,which was mainly influenced by the appointment and dismissal system of local officials in Song Dynasty,which made officials unable to change this dilemma.As for prison affairs,officials believe that they should be treated carefully and supervised often.However,in reality,the phenomenon of officials disordering the prison administration system and hindering the implementation of laws often occurs.The philosophy and experience of state and county officials in prison management is more in line with the reality than the legal provisions,which is the adaptation of officials in the specific prison management based on the situation.It played a great role in maintaining the normal operation of prisons in the practice of state and county prison management in the Song Dynasty,and also provided some reference and guidance for officials in the Ming Dynasty in prison management.However,based on the limitations of The times and positions,as well as the influence of the national prison administration system,these officials were still unable to solve some problems in the reality of prison administration.They could not fundamentally change some of the chronic diseases in the state and county prisons in the Song Dynasty.The fundamental reason lies in the malpractice of the national prison administration system under the feudal legal system.In today’s prison management work,we should reflect on whether there is the same governance dilemma as that faced by state and county officials in Song Dynasty.At the same time,we should learn from the Song Dynasty officials’ prison philosophy of treating prisoners,managing officials and dealing with affairs,respect and protect the rights of prisoners,pay attention to training the professional ethics of prison law enforcement personnel,innovate the fine management of prison,improve the execution procedures and supervision system of prison management according to the actual situation,and strengthen the legal guarantee of prison.