By CGTN's Sun Ye & Dong Hailin 

The Sunshine Halfway House is the first facility in China to help former inmates transition to life outside jail. It all relies on treating each other as equals. 

Getting former inmates to open up about their deepest fears is difficult. The Sunshine Halfway House has found that counselling makes it easier. 

Artworks by students in the halfway house. /Photo by Sun Ye

Xiao Wang (not his real name), who was jailed for assault,  said: “Having a criminal record, I feel so different from others. (I don't have) a clean slate anymore.” 

Fan Chen, psychiatrist at the Sunshine Halfway House, told CGTN: “The biggest thing they worry about is how people see them. They feel they're despised." 

But after becoming a halfway house "student", Xiao Wang says he knows better. He won't make the same mistake, and he won't let his past define him. 

Sandbox room at Sunshine Halfway House. /Photo by Sun Ye

Fan also said: “We want to get this through. Anyone can make a mistake, but when you've made amends for it, you should be able to recover and get back on track.” 

The halfway house serves as a temporary home between prison and the outside world, and it offers basic life skills and counselling to vocational training. 

Convicts live and dine together with officers, also a first in the country. And this says it all about the root of its operation. 

Training session at Sunshine Halfway House. /Photo by Sun Ye

Miao Jinzeng, officer at the halfway house said: “Yes, we work in a more relaxing environment, the principle is putting people first. And we go by what Goethe said: whatever a man has done he is first and foremost, a man. We are equal.” 

Miao says he became the first friend to many who served time. He's still in touch with many who have left this facility. 

Nearly a decade since it was established, the institution has helped more than 4,000 people in various ways. Many have benefited from brand new starts, and time here has proven an effective deterrent to recidivism.

There's a halfway house today in every district of Beijing, helping those who've paid for their sins get a new lease of life.