This can be seen as changes in travel permissions, documents being issued or confiscated, people being put under or taken off strict house arrest, or the local neighborhood administration or village committee changing the degree of surveillance someone is under.

This is the standard procedure, when someone is detained and taken in by police, either to be released soon after or transferred to a form of prolonged detention.

This is unlikely, since a person would need to be taken in by police before being put in administrative detention.

This is unlikely, since a person would need to go through the initial custody stage (however short) before being put in a pre-trial detention center. (Possible exception: A person is out on bail, and is then taken to the detention center when/if the bail stops being valid.)

Most reports of camp detentions suggest that the initial detention is made by police, at times working together with local officials, with some short period of custody preceding being taken to camp. However, there are also numerous documented cases of camp detainees being released from camp temporarily to handle logistical matters (such as bank accounts or car inspections), to see sick relatives or attend funerals, or to undergo medical treatment followed by prolonged rest at home, being taken back to camp afterwards.

It is technically not permissible for someone to be taken straight to a drug-rehabilitation center - since this typically requires detention, followed by a court verdict - and no such cases have been documented. (Technical exceptions: 1) a person is out on bail, and is then taken to the drug-rehabilitation center once sentenced; 2) a person is let out of drug rehabilitation because of very poor health, allowed to undergo treatment and recover at home, and is then taken back afterwards, although no such cases have been documented.)

Going to prison requires going through criminal-litigation proceedings (however rushed), and so this combination is generally considered impossible, with no cases documented. (Technical exceptions: 1) a person out on bail pending trial is sent to prison after sentencing; 2) a person who is very sick is temporarily released and allowed to undergo medical treatment, prior to being taken back once their health improves, such as reportedly happened with the late Abdusemet Rozi; 3) other potential scenarios in Article 268 of the Criminal Procedure Law.)

Being sent to a juvenile correctional facility usually requires being held in pre-trial detention and sentenced, and there are no known cases of minors being sent there directly. (Rare exceptions may exist - see the notes for "surveillance to prison" transfer.)

This is the common scenario where police check someone, briefly detain them, and then decide to let them go.

Transfers from police checkpoints (卡点) or substations (警务室) to larger police stations (派出所), or transfers between police stations and/or public security bureaus (公安局). This is standard and common, and was especially so during the height of the incarceration period, when police at smaller checkpoints would run people through the system and then retain them for further inspection if it turned out they were flagged in the system. The "police notes" in our primary-evidence section show numerous instances of this.

This is the standard scenario of police deciding to put someone in administrative detention, with 10- or 15-day stints most common.

This is the standard scenario of police deciding to put someone in criminal detention and start a case against them.

This is the common scenario where police detain someone and send them to camp soon after, without prolonged time in custody. Multiple eyewitnesses describe this in detail.

When drug rehabilitation is the result of a court verdict, this should not be common, since the individual would likely spend time in some form of administrative or criminal detention first. However, at least some drug-rehabilitation centers have also doubled as camps in Xinjiang, with some people "taken for rehabilitation" (收戒) there by the police.

This goes against regulations and has not been documented, since those sentenced to prison are usually held in pre-trial detention first (excluding those out on bail).

This goes against regulations and has not been documented, since those sentenced to juvenile correctional facilities are (as with prisons) usually held in pre-trial detention first (excluding those out on bail).

This is the standard scenario where someone finishes their administrative-detention term and is released.

This has not really been documented and should not be standard, since leaving administrative detention usually means release or being transferred to a harsher form of detention (criminal or drug rehabilitation).

This has not been documented and would not be expected, since there is usually only one administrative-detention center per county and administrative detention is very short (10-15 days, with rare exceptions). As such, there would not be much sense or reason in transferring someone across counties from one administrative facility to another.

This can occur, when the charges against a person are changed from administrative to criminal. A list of administrative-detention inmates in Ili Prefecture has a separate column to mark if an administrative detainee is suspected of criminal charges (是否涉嫌刑事案件), though only 2 of over 5000 detainees are marked this way. However, the list has 14 individuals marked as being "transferred to criminal detention" (转刑事拘留).

Cases of people being transferred to camp after completing their administrative-detention term have been documented.

This is common, with the list of administrative-detention inmates in Ili Prefecture reporting over 300 people who were "transferred to compulsory-isolation detoxification centers" (转强制隔离戒毒所).

There are no known cases of this, and it should be legally impossible to send someone directly to prison from administrative detention.

There are no known cases of this, and it should be legally impossible to send a minor directly to a juvenile correctional facility from administrative detention.

This is the standard scenario of a person being released, either (a) being released on bail pending trial/investigation, (b) being released after police drop charges, or (c) being released after finishing their prison term (for short terms that don't require transfer to prison).

This has not been documented and would not be expected, since being taken out of pre-trial detention generally means either being released or being sent to a different form of prolonged detention.

The list of pre-trial detention inmates in Ili Prefecture mentions 25 detainees being transferred to administrative detention upon leaving the pre-trial detention center.

It is very common for criminally detained inmates to be transferred between different pre-trial detention centers. Sometimes, it may be a question of jurisdiction (if a case is linked to one location but the person is initially detained in another, they may be temporarily held at the center of the location where they are detained - the list of pre-trial detention inmates in Ili Prefecture lists 250 such cases). At other times, it may be a question of space, or - more rarely - relocation (if a new facility is built and replaces the former). However, there are also many cases where these circumstances don't really apply, but regular transfers still seem like standard practice. Abduweli Ayup, for example, was held in three different detention centers in Urumqi, in addition to one in Kashgar. Memettursun Omer, another eyewitness, was held in three different centers in Hotan.

This is common and has been discussed above.

This seems to be relatively standard, with over 50 cases reported among the 18000+ in the list of people sentenced between 2009 and 2015.

This is the common and standard function of pre-trial detention, with convicts transferred to prison following sentencing. The famous leaked video in 2019 is very likely a recording of such a transfer.

As with prisons, this is the standard transfer for minors who have been criminally convicted, being sent to a juvenile correctional facility after sentencing.

This was standard and common, with a small portion of camp detainees released in 2017 or early-mid 2018 (often for health reasons), a large portion released in late 2018 or early 2019, and a smaller portion released afterwards. Most were usually put under some form of house arrest or surveillance.

This has not been documented, and would not be expected, as the person is already in detention and may simply be transferred directly to another form of prolonged detention if such a decision is made.

This is technically possible, but has not been documented.

This was likely common and has been documented (see discussion above).

Transfers between camps were common, with many eyewitnesses talking about how they were transferred between different camp facilities during their time in detention. Often, this appears to have been an issue of space, and as new camps opened, some detainees would be transferred to those. In some counties, the construction of the new dedicated camps seems to have prompted detainees to be transferred from the makeshift ones to the dedicated ones, with the makeshift ones then being closed and returning to their former function or assuming a new one. Some transfers may have been prompted by the need for "vocational training", which may have been less accessible in poorer equipped facilities far from industrial zones (repurposed detention centers, for example).

This may have happened, especially given the thin line between drug rehabilitation and camp in Xinjiang, with some drug-rehabilitation centers apparently serving both purposes.

Starting in late 2018, many camp detainees were given "provisional sentences" (预判) in "twice announce and once inform" (两告知，一宣讲) sessions, often being given 2-5 years. However, it is not known if many/any of these resulted in actual transfer to prison, and it is possible that they simply functioned as a sort of release mechanism. Some eyewitnesses have reported those who were given 10 years or more being transferred to prison, however, with the case of Zhiger Toqai being cited as the only known example so far (but lacking official corroboration).

This has not been documented and should be very unlikely, as camp detentions did not target minors.

This is the standard scenario where someone finishes their drug-rehabilitation term and is released (or is released for health reasons).

This has not been documented and is not expected, as a person taken out of drug rehabilitation would either be released or taken to another form of prolonged detention.

This has not been documented.

This has not been documented, but should be possible for cases where police decide to open a criminal case or raise new charges against someone already in drug rehabilitation.

This has been documented to an extent, with one detainee sent to "education" by his neighborhood administration after finishing his drug-rehabilitation term (at the same facility). Since it was standard to send prisoners who finished their terms directly to camp in 2017-2018, it is very likely that the same applied for those in drug rehabilitation.

This has not been documented, and is unlikely given how drug-rehabilitation often functions like a lighter form of prison, where a person goes to serve a term and then leave upon completion (without transfers during the process). The only rare exception could be if a drug-rehabilitation facility is replaced by a new one, with inmates transferred accordingly.

This is considered unlikely, but cases have been documented for the drug-rehabilitation facility in Aksu, which appears to have functioned as a form of pre-trial detention for some detainees, with them sentenced while at the drug-rehabilitation facility and then transferred to prison.

This has not been documented.

This is the standard scenario where a prisoner finishes their term and is released (or is released for health reasons).

This has not been documented and is not expected, since a prisoner would only leave prison if they were released or transferred to another form of prolonged detention.

There is no known or logical scenario where a prisoner would be transferred from prison to administrative detention.

Despite a person already serving a prison term, it is absolutely possible for police to raise new charges against them and to actually take them out of prison, holding them at the pre-trial detention again while new criminal-litigation proceedings are started. While not incredibly common, this has been documented on multiple occasions, especially for those who were already sentenced before 2017 and were serving their terms when the mass incarcerations of 2017 started. Many of these were given new and longer sentences. A notable case is also that of Jin Dehuai, who was taken out of prison while serving a 7-year term, held at the Changji City Pre-Trial Detention Center, and then sentenced to life.

Former prisoners were automatically tagged as a "potential threat" in the mass incarcerations of 2017-2019, with many documented cases of people being released from prison and put straight into a camp. Amanzhan Seiit has also described this in his eyewitness account, with the Chinese government's white paper also clearly stating that prisoners who finished their sentences but were assessed to still pose a "potential threat to society" could be ordered to "receive education" at the camps.

This has not been documented.

To the best of our knowledge, prisoners generally serve the entirety of their term in a single prison, without transfers during this time, and no such cases have been documented. The only technical exception would be a prison facility closing and being replaced by another, thereby necessitating the transfer of the inmates at that time.

This scenario violates chronological order and has not been documented (minors can become adults and be transferred from juvenile facilities to prisons, but adults already at prisons would not be transferred to juvenile facilities, barring extraordinary cases).

This is the standard scenario of a minor finishing a sentence at a juvenile correctional facility and being released (or being released for health reasons).

This has not been documented and is not expected, since leaving a juvenile correctional facility would imply either being released or transferred to another form of prolonged detention.

There is no known or logical scenario where a prisoner at a juvenile correctional facility would be transferred to administrative detention.

Given how it is always possible for police to raise new charges, even while someone is already serving a sentence, and to take them back into pre-trial detention for investigation, this scenario is theoretically possible, but has not been documented.

This should be very unlikely, since camps generally have not targeted minors.

This does not seem likely and has not been documented.

This is the natural course of events for those minors with long terms when they turn 18, with Article 76 of the Prison Law implying that those with more than 2 years left on their term should be transferred to a formal prison for adults.

Since juvenile correctional facilities are essentially prisons for minors, they generally function like prisons, with the inmate serving out their term in a single facility. No cases of transfers between these facilities have been documented. The only technical exception would be the scenario of facility closure/relocation, with the inmates being moved to the new facility that replaces the old one.