Jingnan Prison is located in the southwest of the Jingnan County Ya Hall outside the Yimen, in fact, the ancient grassroots cells are basically located in the southwest of the county Yayimen, only a very few county Yamen will be located in the southeast of the Yimen, but they also belong to the "south" direction of the county government, and it is precisely because of this that the ancient prison has the common name of "South Prison".

Zhu Ping'an put away the sign-in book, took Liu Mu and Liu Dadao, and went to Jingnan Cell together.

In order to better understand the situation of the cell and the prisoners, on the way, Zhu Ping'an called Zhang Danian, the warden of the torture room.

In fact, it is more appropriate to call Li Da, who is in charge of public security and criminal law, but ...... Li Da asked someone to ask for leave today, and he didn't go to work, so Zhu Ping'an had to call Zhang Danian, the warden of the torture room.

The prison cell in Jingnan County is a brick and stone structure, the prison wall is nearly five meters high, there are two layers of courtyard wall, it looks like it has been old, the wall is tied with thistle, there is a watchtower, there are two prison doors, the prison guards patrol, and the guard is tight.

"Judge Zhang, how much does the prison occupy? Is there a cell in it? Zhu Ping'an asked Zhang Danian, the warden of the torture room.

"Back to the county, our Jingnan County Prison covers an area of about six acres, and is divided into two courtyards, the inner prison and the outer prison, the outer prison holds temporary and short-term prisoners, and the inner prison houses felons. There are a total of 68 cells and prison wards, including 35 male cells, 20 female prisons, 3 water prisons, and the rest are prison officers' rooms and torture rooms. Zhang Danian, the warden of the torture room, replied.

Zhu Ping'an nodded and stepped into the outer prison.

When the prison officials heard the news, they all rushed to kneel down and salute, and Zhu Ping'an waved his hand to let them get up.

Entering the prison, the first building is the Temple of the Prison God, which is dedicated to the god of prison who manages the prison, that is, the protector of the prison.

There are two prison gods enshrined in the Jingnan Prison Temple, one is Gaotao at the end of the primitive society, because he was appointed by Shun as an official in charge of criminal law and created a prison, so he later became a prison god; The second is Xiao He, the prime minister of the Western Han Dynasty, because Xiao He was a prison officer and other professions, and later helped Liu Bang establish the legal system of the early Han Dynasty - "Nine Chapters of Law", so he was also respected as the god of prison.

On the fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, the prison will hold worship activities at the prison temple to pray for the protection of the prison god. When the jailers and leaders in charge take office, they will also come to worship the prison god. Zhu Ping'an followed the customs of the villagers, and he also put on a stick of incense when he entered.

Out of the prison temple, Zhu Ping'an first went to the outer prison.

As soon as he entered the outer prison, Zhu Ping'an felt as if he had entered a vegetable market, and there were too many prisoners in the cell, which was simply overcrowded, as if Jingnan Prison had become the most suitable place to live in Jingnan County. None of the cells were empty, and each cell was filled with inmates, with an average of no less than 10 inmates in each cell, and the smallest cell was filled with five inmates.

What's going on?

Isn't Jingnan piled up with mountains of cases?! Why are there so many prisoners in this cell?!

Zhu Ping'an was stunned by the many prisoners inside.

"My lord, wronged, wronged."

"I didn't commit a crime, let me out."

"Please, let me out, I'm old, I'm young, I'm a laborer at home, without me, how can the family live." Seeing that when the rice is harvested, how will their orphans and widows harvest? ”

"Dog officer, let me out...... There was a drought and a flood, and there was no harvest in the ground.

When the prisoners in the prison saw someone coming in, especially Zhu Ping'an in an official uniform, they were furious, grabbing the fence or shouting grievances, pleading, or simply venting insults.

"Be honest with me! Want to be whipped again?! ”

The jailer stepped forward with a whip and threw a few lashes at the most noisy cells, intimidating the prisoners and quieting them.

"Why are there so many people in the cell? What are the sins? Zhu Ping'an turned his head and asked the warden Zhang Danian and the accompanying jailers.

"Back to the county. Most of these prisoners are because they did not pay taxes and resisted paying taxes, and there are about 100 of them. ”

Zhang Danian, the warden of the torture room, replied.

In ancient times, money and grain taxes accounted for a large proportion of fiscal revenue, so the management and punishment of taxes were relatively strict, and for those who refused to pay taxes or resisted paying taxes, the county government could indeed arrest them to set an example.

Zhu Ping'an nodded when he heard this, then took two steps forward and approached the cell with the largest number of people and the most troublesome just now.

Several prison officials wanted to behave in front of Zhu Ping'an, and carefully protected Zhu Ping'an as if they were facing a great enemy.

Zhu Ping'an waved his hand and stepped forward.

"Why are you in prison?" Zhu Ping'an asked gently.

"I didn't pay my taxes." The inmates in the cell replied in different voices, either cautiously or resentfully.

"But we didn't mean not to pay, last year there was a drought and a flood, and then there were pirates, and the rice was all destroyed, and we paid all the old grain at home, but it was still not enough, I really had no choice."

"That's right, natural and man-made disasters are coming, there is no harvest in the fields, there is not enough food, how to pay taxes?"

"Our village did not encounter pirates, but because our village is in the lower reaches of the river, the flood has flooded our village, whether it is a dry field or a paddy field, all the crops in the field have been soaked and rotten, and not a single grain of grain has been confiscated."

"Hmph, there are two official words, and the top and bottom are heads..... No matter how serious the drought and flood are, there are not many people left, and I don't see you officials coming to provide disaster relief, but it is very positive to collect taxes one by one, and it doesn't matter whether the people live or die, and if you can't pay the taxes, you will arrest people......"

"My lord, I'm not convinced, it's not our family who hasn't paid taxes in the village, why only arrest me. I have a labor force in my family, my mother is old, my legs and feet are inconvenient, my mother-in-law is weak and weak, the child will run, this looks like the rice is about to be harvested, if there is no me, what can the family do. ”

......

Last year, there were frequent floods and droughts, and some villages were plagued by pirates and pirates, which caused a very serious reduction in the crops in the fields, and in some villages even reduced to the point of no harvest, which caused them to be unable to pay their taxes and were arrested and imprisoned.

In this way, Zhu Ping'an listened to the explanations of the prisoners and knew it in his heart. In order to understand more clearly, Zhu Ping'an went from prison to prison to learn about the situation, and the situation was similar to that of the first prison, much the same.

After learning about the outer prison, Zhu Ping'an went to the inner prison again. The outer prisons are overcrowded, and the inner prisons are also overcrowded.

In addition to the fact that some of the unpaid inmates are being held outside the prison because of overcrowding, more inmates are due to the backlog of cases. Because of the backlog of cases, the trial has not been handled for a long time, so the suspects have been locked up in prison, and when a case is piled up, a suspect is locked in, and the old prisoners are piled up without trial and treatment, and the new prisoners are locked up again, and the more and more cases accumulate, which leads to more and more prisoners in the inner prison, and finally leads to overcrowding.

If the officials do not act, the people will suffer.

Zhu Ping'an felt a lot of emotion, and he also made up his mind in his heart.

。 Writing Chinese Network M.