BEIJING (AP) — Tens of thousands of people are locked up in China without a trial or a judge's review under a system known as labor re-education. But that may be about to change.

Police have used the system to silence citizens complaining about local officials. That has galvanized critics, many of them within the government, and China's newly installed leadership is seizing on expectations for reform.

Commentators in the media and on the Internet are hoping that some deputies propose that the system be overhauled during the 13-day legislative session, which ends Sunday.

As many as 40,000 people are detained in roughly 300 labor re-education camps across the country, according to Wang Gongyi, who recently retired as director of a research institute under the Ministry of Justice.