All detainees in China's Guangzhou labour camps will be released by the end of the year, a senior judge has said.
Authorities in the Guangdong provincial capital stopped approving applications for laojiao, a controversial system of re-education through labor, in March, China Daily reports.
Yu Mingyong, deputy president of Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court, said that the police and many legal experts have realized the drawbacks of laojiao and called to abolish the system, which has become outdated.
He added that many of those released from laojiao find many difficulties returning to society, families and work after their personal freedom has been restricted in labor camps for several years.
He said that Guangzhou still has about 100 people in labour camps.