Shanghai Jun Tianhu prison was established in 1958. It was put to service in Jianle and Taining county of Fujian province, and was called “Shanghai state-owned Zhabei municipal farm”initially. Due to the combat needs, it was then relocated to Xuan cheng city of Anhui province, 318 kilometers away from Shanghai, in June 1962.

　　It started to receive prisoners in February 1974, was named “Shanghai Jun Tianhu farm”at the time. In the wake of the execution of Prison Law in 1995, the name has once again been changed to “Shanghai Jun Tianhu Prison”and remained unchanged since then. After the renovation in September 2004, the prison has transformed into centralized incarceration management, instead of sprawling facilities across the premises. The transformation has marked the brand-new beginning and era for the prison.

　　The prison persists on educational reform, strives to formalize all reform procedures and management, as well as improve the quality of education. The prison continues to emphasize on education for all new inmates, sets out the psychological wellbeing consultation center while assuring that the orientation and disciplinary education are well received by new inmates. The prison also stresses on the career consultation and pre-release education for inmates who are soon to return to the society in which a seamless transition is highly desirable.

　　“Punishment, discipline, repentance, endeavor”is all part of the imprisonment culture, also the admonishment which the prison passes on to inmates. Tianhu Xinsheng Newspaper and the broadcasting of the “Voice of Tianhu”are important media vehicles committed to propagate and promote the educational reform. The prison also organizes various activities, cultural events, sports competition, art or calligraphy exhibitions and other programs to enrich lives of the inmates and to urge them to turn over a new leaf.

　　The prison was awarded as “The Shanghai civilized modern prison”in 2006, honored with the title of an advanced prison of the nation in 2007. In the year 2008, the judicial department named it the civilized modern prison at the ministry level. Another conferment was given in 2011 as civilized municipal entity under City’s jurisdiction. The glory of May 1st labor award was bestowed on the prison by the Shanghai general labor Union in 2013. The prison was again appraised as a civilized municipal entity in 2015.