BEIJING - China's State Council, or the Cabinet, on Thursday promulgated a regulation on the administration of the country's detention centers and the protection of the detainees' legitimate rights.

However, the regulation is applicable only to the detention houses holding people in custody for minor offenses. It will not cover the sites where criminal suspects are detained.

In China, minor offenders such as those who disturbed public order or court order will be detained for up to 15 days.

The regulation asked the detention centers to protect the detainees' legitimate rights and interests and prohibited the centers and the warders from insulting, abusing and imposing physical punishments on the detainees.

Nor should the warders instruct or permit others to do so, the regulation said.

The detention centers should inform the detainees of their legal rights and the rules they should abide by. The centers should also give timely notice to the detainees' family members, according to the regulation.

Moreover, the regulation required the centers to organize proper physical and cultural activities for the inmates, and the inmates should be allowed of outdoor activities of no less than two hours each day.

The regulation also banned forced labor in the detention houses.

Furthermore, the detention centers are told to provide necessary drug rehabilitation treatments for the detained drug addicts.

The body frisking and administration work on female detainees should only be conducted by female police officers, according to the regulation.

The regulation will take effect from April 1.