My visit to Beijing Women's Prison was not my first to a correctional facility, but it was possibly the one that left the deepest impression.

Rather than the usual excitement I had at peeking behind the doors of China's justice system, this time I was overcome with a mixture of hesitation and regret.

The prison is a yellow six-floor building and several workshops. Unlike the austerity of the city's juvenile rehabilitation center, where iron doors separate every block, each section here has a library room with one or two computers.