Jail guards are not always at odds with the inmates.

Han Xiaoyun, a 34-year-old guard in Beijing, said she sometimes acts like a sister or mother for the female suspects detained in the Changping District Detention Center.

Han Xiaoyun, a 34-year-old guard in Beijing, supervises 100 female detainees at the Changping District Detention Center.

For the past six years, she has devoted her time and energy to supervising 100 detainees at the center, despite a heavy workload at home: she has a husband with high blood sugar levels and an 8-year-old son who needs help with homework.

She strives to learn the background and character of each one of the women in her care.

"The female suspects belong to a particular group, as many of them are mothers and wives," Han said. "They are more inclined to emotional or psychological breakdowns and require more attention from us."

Han said she gleans information from an inmate's profile when the woman enters the center: why she was put in detention, her stories and her family background.

"Through communicating with them, I can get to know them better," she said. "I especially want to learn about what I can do to help alleviate the pain her detention has brought to her family. I want to breathe hope into their lives, help them realize what they did wrong in the past, restore confidence in their future and help reduce their psychological burden."

Han's hard work has paid off. Even the most cynical of detainees say good things about her.

When a METRO reporter went to Changping District Detention Center to interview Han, all the inmates interviewed said Han's good deeds deserve media attention.

"You guys should have come earlier and she's definitely a person you should learn about," one said.

Chen Ying, 21-year-old graduate of the Capital University of Economics and Business who had signed a contract for a 4,000 yuan monthly job with the China Academy of Space Technology, is among the women mired in deep sorrow about the possibility of a ruined future.

She is accused of being involved in a kidnapping, on her boyfriend's orders one month before her graduation.

"As a college student, I have knowledge about civil law and already had a good job," Chen said. "But I just lacked common sense and trusted my boyfriend. I didn't think about the result back then."

Chen said she couldn't sleep or eat when she first came to the center.

"Han is just like my mother, she always communicates with me patiently and helps me realize my wrongdoing through analyzing the case," Chen said. "She encouraged me never to give up, and establish a healthy attitude toward my life after I get out.