The leaked records include a memo laying out protocols for facilities that more closely resemble prisons focused on indoctrinating detainees. Preventing escapes is paramount, the documents say, and a chief goal of the camps is “ideological transformation.”

The memo — dated 2017 when the internment campaign was gaining momentum — details how the camps are meant to be run, from the banality of monitoring bathroom breaks to the importance of having in place “one-button alarms” and other security measures.

The leaked records also provide a window into China’s high-tech surveillance system, whom it is tracking, and how it is being used to identify candidates for “re-education.” NBC News is reporting on the previously undisclosed documents, obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, together with 17 news organizations around the world…

“The Chinese know that what they’re doing in these camps is like the Cultural Revolution on steroids,” he added. “And they want to hide this, especially from the Muslim world.”