 In the past decade , there have been numerous calls for the system to be reformed or replaced . As early as 1997 , the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ( <unk> ) called for China to allow judicial control over detentions ; in 2000 , the UN Committee Against Torture recommended that all forms of administrative detention , including re @-@ education through labor , be abolished ; in 2004 , the <unk> called for the establishment of rights to due process and counsel for individuals detained ; and in 2005 , the Special Rapporteur on Torture called for the outright abolition of re @-@ education through labor . The prominent deaths of two inmates in spring 2003 prompted many calls within China for reform of the system , but reform did not happen immediately , though The China Daily reported that there was " general consensus " that reform was needed . In March 2007 , however , the Chinese government did announce that it would abolish the re @-@ education through labor system and replace it with a more lenient set of laws . According to the proposal , the maximum sentence would be lowered from four years to 18 months ; re @-@ education centers would be renamed " correction centers " and have their fences and gates removed . A month later , Chongqing municipality passed a law allowing lawyers to offer legal counsel in re @-@ education through labor cases . 
