Recently, there is a prison in Hebei Province where "online video visits of relatives are 20 minutes each time, and the fee is 50 yuan", which has aroused the concern and doubts of netizens. The Paper learned that the related video meeting platform is a small WeChat program called "Family Meeting", and the main company is Hebei Lichi Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Lichi Information").
The registration certificate of "Family Meeting" system issued by Lichi Information on the official website.
A staff member of Baoding Prison previously responded to the media that remote video interview is a convenience service provided by a third-party company, and the fee is also charged by a third-party company. The Paper previously reported that other provinces and cities have similar video interview services, and the prisons do not charge, but the third-party service companies charge different fees, and some of them are cheaper than "family meeting".
In addition, the "Family Meeting" applet said that it can make an appointment for video meetings in more than ten prisons in Hebei, which has also attracted much attention. Some lawyers said that the "Family Meeting" prison remote video meeting platform developed by Lichi Information in Hebei prison system belongs to the category of government procurement and should be decided by means of bidding.
On August 10th, The Paper searched on the public service platform of bidding and tendering in China, and found that there were no bidding records of related projects in Hebei prisons that many "family meetings" said could be reserved. Only one announcement can be found that Lichi Information won the bid for the procurement project of Hebei Women’s Prison Meeting Management Platform in April this year.
In response to the above questions, The Paper contacted several prisons in Hebei Province on August 10th, but no effective response was obtained. The staff of the Hebei Provincial Prison Administration said that in response to relevant disputes, "it has been submitted to ‘ Relevant departments ’ I have reported it and am discussing it. "
Focus on the "Lichi Information" in the prison field
The national enterprise information publicity system shows that Lichi Information was established in September 2016, and its main business includes information technology, software research and development, technical consultation and technology transfer; Information system integration services, etc. The initial registered capital of the company was 3 million yuan, which was increased to 11 million yuan in June 2021.
On August 9th, The Paper saw on the official website of Lichi Information that the company claimed to be a new technology company focusing on the research, development, production and sales of comprehensive prison systems.
The "family meeting system" that has attracted attention this time was designed and developed by Lichi Information in 2020. The computer software copyright registration certificate displayed on the website shows that "Family Meeting System 1.0" was developed on November 10th, 2020, first published on December 17th, 2020, and registered and approved on February 7th, 2021.
Lichi Information said in the certificate that its self-developed prison remote video meeting platform was deployed in Hebei prison system in November 2020 and put into operation. By the end of July 2021, a total of 60,000 criminal interviews had been completed. "It has been well received by criminals and their families."
Lichi Information mentioned in the "Proposal of Prison Remote Video Meeting System" published by official website that compared with WeChat, QQ and other tools, "Family Meeting" can record and record the whole process, and it is more secure in terms of security, such as requiring relatives to enter their real personal information when registering, and before the call, police officers use the original information to check with relatives in the video; The screen that prisoners see is an image with the background removed.
According to the proposal, this system can solve the problem of difficult family visits during the epidemic. The company exchanged reports with several prisons and management departments, which not only provided convenience for the system, but also solved the uncontrollable security risks during the call, and it was applied in many prisons, and the call process was safe and reliable. It can realize that relatives can "meet with prisoners through video without leaving home".
On August 10th, official website of Lichi Information could not be opened normally.
On August 10th, The Paper noticed that the company’s official website could not be opened normally.
Winning the bid for prison projects many times.
For example, the self-introduction of the above-mentioned Lichi information in official website, The Paper found through the search of Tianyue App that Lichi information was approved to register a number of prison management systems including the above-mentioned "Family Meeting 1.0" in 2021. Such as prison fixed assets management system, roll call management system, prisoners meeting management system, prison police training file management system, etc., totaling 10 items.
Tianyancha app shows that there are many software copyrights related to prison management in Lichi Information.
Tianyancha App shows that Lichi Information has won the bid for prison management projects many times. According to the bidding announcement of terminal equipment procurement of Hebei Women’s Prison Police Dispatching Sub-platform (bidding number: HBHJ2207-01-119), in August 2022, Lichi Information won the bid for the terminal equipment procurement project of Hebei Women’s Prison Police Dispatching Sub-platform, with the bidding price of more than 330,000 yuan, the bidding agency was Hebei Hengji Construction Bidding Co., Ltd., and the bidding supervision unit was blank.
In September 2022, Lichi Information won the bid for the terminal equipment procurement project of Hebei Shenzhou Prison Police Dispatching Sub-platform, with the winning bid price of more than 240,000 yuan. The bidding agency is Hebei Zhongbai Bidding Consulting Co., Ltd., and the supervision department in the bid-winning announcement is also blank. A month later, Lichi Information once again won the bid for the terminal equipment procurement project of the police dispatching sub-platform of Shenzhou Prison (the second time), and the agency was the same as the first time, but the bid-winning announcement stated that the supervision department was Shenzhou Prison.
In addition, in April 2023, Lichi Information won the bid for the meeting management platform project of Hebei Women’s Prison. The bid amount is more than 320,000 yuan, and the delivery period is 20 calendar days. The tendering agency is Hebei Henderson Construction Tendering Co., Ltd., and the supervision department is blank.
Zhao Liangshan, a senior partner of Shaanxi Hengda Law Firm and a well-known public interest lawyer, believes that the tenderer is the client and the tendering agency is the trustee. The legal significance of this principal-agent relationship lies in that the agency behavior of the bidding agency is limited to the agency authority agreed by both parties, so the tenderer will bear civil liability for the agency behavior and its legal consequences. The tenderee can supervise as a supervision department, but the supervision department is blank and non-compliant in the bid-winning announcement.
Bidding records of several prisons have not been seen.
Liu Kai, a lawyer of Beijing Zhongwen (Changsha) Law Firm, said in an interview with the media that criminals can enhance their emotional communication by meeting their relatives, which will help them to reform and integrate into society. However, prisons are generally built in remote areas, and face-to-face meetings do take some time and travel costs. Therefore, the use of remote video interview in prison system has certain practical significance, which is the embodiment of keeping pace with the times and is worthy of recognition.
However, the "family meeting" prison remote video meeting platform developed by the prison system of Hebei Province using Lichi information should belong to the category of government procurement.
On August 10th, The Paper searched the bidding situation of Luquan, Longyao and Jizhong prisons in Hebei Province on the public service platform of bidding and tendering in China and the information platform of purchasing services by the China government. During 2020-2023, there was no video interview related bidding record. These prisons all use "family meetings".
Later, The Paper called several prisons to inquire about the use of "family meeting" in prisons. The staff of Luquan Prison Office told The Paper that they were unaware of the relevant situation and needed to contact the Prison Administration Department. The post-prison staff said that after confirmation to the office, they could not be interviewed. The staff of Jizhong Prison Office also said that they didn’t know, so they could consult the staff of the interview room. Later, The Paper called the interview room several times, but no one answered.
The staff of Longyao Prison Office also said that they didn’t know about the relevant situation. The Paper asked him if he could ask the leader for feedback. He said, "I can reflect it upward, but I can’t guarantee a reply." As of press time, The Paper didn’t get a response.
In addition, the staff of Hebei Prison Administration told The Paper on August 10th that they had made a good record of the public’s dispute about "family meeting" and reported it to the relevant departments, and now they are discussing it. As for which department the relevant department is, the other party said that "this is not convenient to tell you". The staff member said, "There will be a result at that time."