Quake Brings Reward for China Prisoners

BEIJING — China has shortened the sentences of 116 prisoners at a labor camp in western Qinghai province for good behavior during an earthquake last April that knocked down a camp wall and opened their way to freedom, an official newspaper said.

The Shanghai newspaper Wen Hui Bao said 52 of the prisoners had already gained their freedom as a reward for not fleeing or for helping to rescue people trapped in rubble nearby by the magnitude 6.9 quake that killed 126 people.