BEIJING -- China will improve education in prisons and help prisoners return to society as law-abiding citizens, China's Minister of Justice Wu Aiying said in Beijing on Wednesday.

At a national conference on prison work, Wu said China wanted a fair, clean, civilized and efficient prison system.

She said that bigger, better prisons should be built. The ratio between prison warders and prisoners should be 18 to 100.

According to her, more than 85 percent of China's 280,000 prison warders have received junior college education.

Chinese prisons provide psychological consultations for inmates. Every prisoner undergoes a psychological evaluation when they first enter a correctional institute. They are also offered consultations based on their needs, according to the ministry.

Inmates received various types of education last year, with 95 percent receiving technical training, and nearly two thirds of them being awarded certificates.