The Chinese government has published a draft regulation that aims at protecting inmates detained on minor offences from abuses and at clearly stating their rights.

The draft regulation on detention centers published by the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council will apply to police detention centers for minor offenders, such as those detained on charges of drunk and disorderly conduct.

In China, the police can detain minor offenders for a maximum of 15 days without a court sentence.

The draft states that inmates in such detention centers have the rights to communication and visits.

The letters of the inmates are free from any examination or seizure by officials.

The draft also prohibits detention centers charging detainees fees or forcing them to work.

If a detainee dies in a center, the procuratorate in charge should examine the cause of death immediately.

The next of kin can request a review from the superior procuratorate if they are dissatisfied with the results of the first examination.

Other regulations in effect already cover detention centers holding people awaiting trial on serious offences.

But these centers have often been criticized for their poor protection of inmates' rights, particularly since 24-year-old Li Qiaoming died in a detention center in southwest China's Yunnan Province on Feb. 8.

Li was initially reported to have died during a game, but was later found to have been beaten to death by other inmates.

Legal experts and lawyers are expecting that after the draft comes into effect, it may help to improve the situation of human rights in detention centers.

But some complain that such regulations should have come about much earlier and that some provisions are too general to be carried out effectively.

A lawyer who declined to be named said, "For example, it is very difficult to prove that a detainee died from abuse in a center and not from diseases, because all the documents on the detainee's death are kept by the detention center and the center may possibly revise or conceal such documents."

The draft is available on the website of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council, www.chinalaw.gov.cn, for public comment, which can be submitted anytime before Nov. 30 by online post, e-mail or written letters.