 Most detainees in re @-@ education through labor facilities are reported to be drug users , petty criminals , and prostitutes , as well as some political prisoners ; James Seymour has also claimed that most individuals sentenced to re @-@ education through labor are from urban areas . Individuals who attempt to leave the country illegally have also been sentenced to re @-@ education through labor upon their return . In periods leading up to visits from foreign dignitaries or politically sensitive anniversaries ( such as the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 ) , local authorities have supposedly detained " undesirables " such as the homeless , mentally or physically disabled individuals , and migrant workers . One China specialist at the RAND Corporation has claimed that the police , faced with a lack of " modern rehabilitation and treatment programs , " use re @-@ education through labor convictions to " warehouse " individuals for " an increasing number of social problems . " In some instances , individuals were sent to re @-@ education through labor even after being found not guilty in a court of law . 
