Sexual and physical abuse and extortion occurred in some detention centers. Political activists, underground religious believers, persons who repeatedly petitioned the government, members of the banned Chinese Democracy Party (CDP), and Falun Gong adherents were among those housed with mentally ill patients in these institutions. According to China News Weekly, the country had 22 "ankang" institutions (high-security psychiatric hospitals for the criminally insane) directly administered by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS). The regulations for committing a person to an ankang facility were not clear, and detainees had no mechanism for objecting to public security officials' determinations of mental illness. Patients in these hospitals reportedly were given medicine against their will and forcibly subjected to electric shock treatment. Conditions in penal institutions for both political prisoners and common criminals generally were harsh and often degrading. Prisoners and detainees often were kept in overcrowded conditions with poor sanitation. Activists sentenced to administrative detention also reported they were strapped to beds or other devices for days at a time, beaten, forcibly injected or fed medications, and denied food and use of toilet facilities. Inadequate prison capacity remained a problem in some areas. Food often was inadequate and of poor quality, and many detainees relied on supplemental food and medicines provided by relatives; some prominent dissidents were not allowed to receive such goods. Forced labor remained a serious problem in penal institutions. Many prisoners and detainees in penal and RTL facilities were required to work, often with no remuneration. On March 2, an inmate at the Danzhou First Detention Center in Hainan was beaten to death by inmates while guards looked on. Information about prisons, including associated labor camps and factories, was considered a state secret and was tightly controlled. In August Vice Minister of Health Huang Jiefu stated that inmates were not a proper source for organ transplants, that prisoners must give written consent for their organs to be taken, and that their rights were protected. In a 2007 interview, Ministry of Health spokesman Mao Qunan stated that most transplanted organs were from executed prisoners.

On July 19, 400 rubber farmers clashed with police in Menglian County, Yunnan Province. Police fired plastic bullets at the rioters and state media reported two deaths and 54 persons injured, including 41 police officers. Beijing Olympic organizers designated three parks as special protest zones during the August 8-24 Olympic Games. At least six of those who applied to use the protest zones later were detained and several were returned forcibly to their home provinces. However, the Beijing PSB did not approve a single application to stage a demonstration, although reportedly 77 persons applied. Two elderly women who applied were administratively sentenced to one year of RTL, although authorities later reportedly rescinded these sentences. Most foreign demonstrators were expelled from the country within 24 hours. During the Olympics Beijing-based dissidents were forced to leave the city, placed under house arrest, or subjected to 24-hour police surveillance. Police detained foreign citizens attempting to demonstrate near the Olympic Village or on Tiananmen Square. Many reported that in the weeks leading up to the opening ceremony, they were visited by state security officials who warned them to keep a low profile. Persons petitioning the government continued to face restrictions on their rights to assemble and raise grievances. Most petitions mentioned grievances about land, housing, entitlements, the environment, or corruption. Some dissidents were also warned against granting media interviews. Most petitioners sought to present their complaints at national and provincial "letters and visits" offices. Efforts to rid Beijing of petitioners resulted in heightened harassment, detention, incarceration, and restrictions on rights to assemble and raise grievances. As the Olympics approached, Beijing hotels reportedly were pressured by police not to rent rooms to petitioners. During the year police in Beijing stepped up a campaign to rid the capital of petitioners before the Olympics. Police from provinces across the country dispatched officers to the capital to apprehend petitioners from their jurisdictions. During the Olympics police cars from numerous provinces were seen near the offices of the State Bureau of Letters and Calls, the primary government agency responsible for receiving petitions.