Overview

• Chen Hong was sentenced in Shanxi to five years for fraud in December 2020 and stayed out of prison by giving birth three times in four years with the same man.
• Chinese rules allow pregnant or breastfeeding women to serve sentences outside prison under supervision, with regular inspections and medical reports.
• Investigators in May 2025 found her third baby was not living with her and was registered under her former sister-in-law, and she acknowledged that her first two children were with her ex-husband.
• Authorities concluded she had misused pregnancy provisions and sent her to a detention centre to complete the remaining term, with less than a year left.
• Legal officers in Yancheng urged procedural changes such as pausing sentences rather than repeated deferrals, citing similar past cases where multiple pregnancies postponed incarceration for years.