It will serve as the new centre for the detention and interrogation of such suspects before they are sentenced, according to TIN's source. The new prison unit is likely to serve the same function as Sitru, which is also within the Sangyip security complex, in that it will hold prisoners suspected of serious crimes against state security, particularly civilian activists accused of organising protests or collecting sensitive information. One of the main functions of Sitru prison is to prevent the active involvement of lay people in political opposition, which can also include the isolation of such Tibetans from any contact with foreigners or exile Tibetans. After a suspect has been detained by the Public Security Bureau, he or she is held without charge in a detention centre. The case is then investigated by the Procuracy, which generally takes about three months.
Torture is common during the interrogation process.
A former inmate of Sitru, who was imprisoned after he took part in a demonstration in Lhasa, said that during a seven-month period in the detention centre he was beaten many times by his interrogators before he was sentenced. One of my teeth cracked because they shoved a cattle-prod into my mouth. The new unit may, however, be administered at the provincial level, which would normally mean it is subject to TAR government control. This is understood to be a reference to Outritru, which is sometimes known in Chinese as Wuzhidui, a prison or section of a prison within the Sangyip prison complex. There is no official admission of the scale of the Sangyip prison and its different units.