Torture Methods Used in Nanguanling Prison, Dalian City

Nanguanling Prison in Dalian City, Liaoning Province is a provincial level prison. It falls under the jurisdiction of the Liaoning Province Prison Management Bureau and is directed by the Liaoning Department of Justice. A number of Falun Gong practitioners from Liaoning Province have been tortured to death in Nanguanling Prison, including Mr. Wang Hongnan from Anshan City, Mr. Bai Heguo from Dengta City and Mr. Liu Quan from Benxi City.

Solitary confinement cells in the “Strict Management Team”

There are approximately 26 small solitary confinement cells in the “Strict Management Team”, each measuring around nine square metres. The cells located furthest along the hallway are numbers 12, 13, 14, and 15. Two metal hoops are fixed on the walls of these cells, and are usually used to torture practitioners that have recently arrived at the prison. The torture method is called “small hanging”. It is an extremely brutal method of torture and very difficult to bear. Most times, the skin on the practitioner's bottom starts to break after a day. The guards usually keep the person tied up like this for about 48 hours. But depending on the guards' mood, practitioners have been kept like this for five days, sometimes 10 days, and the longest being about 21 continuous days. Sometimes, one could hear loud cries and screams coming from the cells. Other torture methods used in these cells are called the “Big hang” and “Locked on the wall.”

Leg Irons

Practitioners in other cells are shackled with leg irons and their hands are cuffed behind their backs. They have to sit in the middle of the room on the hard ground with their legs crossed from 5 a.m. until about 10 p.m. During the night, their hands are cuffed in front of their bodies. When there are two people in one cell, sometimes their hands are cuffed together.

Freezing

There is no heating in the cells during the winter months, except for cell 17, which has a little ground heating. Practitioners are forced to sit on the cold hard floor and the guards open the windows to make the weather conditions in the cells even worse. Practitioners are not given any warm water to drink, and they are not allowed to take a shower or wash their clothes. Sometimes the stench in the cells is unbearable.

One winter, the guards would not give Mr. Bai Heguo a blanket to sleep under for 12 days. When he reported this to prison director Bai Shiming, he refused to help and also threatened Mr. Bai. Mr. Bai was later tortured to death. There was a similar case with another practitioner, Mr. Tian Xiaofei, who was not given any blankets for eight days in the middle of winter.

Monitoring

Before the end of 2011, there were 20 sections in the prison and each had three Falun Gong practitioners detained there. All of the practitioners are monitored by inmates. Two inmates would follow a practitioner at all times, even when the practitioner used the restroom. The inmates controlled whatever the practitioner did. Two additional inmates monitored the practitioner at night. Many practitioners are beaten and verbally abused by these inmates. They are not allowed to talk or be in contact with other practitioners, and they have had money extorted from them. Practitioners were not allowed to make phone calls to their family members either. When the earthquake in Japan caused a nuclear leak in 2011, practitioner Mr. Tian Xiaofei wanted to make a phone call to his daughter who was studying in Japan to find out if she was safe. Prison guard Zheng refused to allow him to do so.

At the end of 2011, director Yan threatened more than 200 inmates in a meeting, and said, “You will be put in the strict management team if the Falun Gong practitioners you monitor talk to other practitioners.”

Abusing practitioners with bad food

At meal time practitioners are fed very little, with each meal usually consisting of a small bun and a piece of pickled vegetable. The meals in the prison are of very poor quality. Every week there is just one meal that includes rice. But even that isn't guaranteed, and is often canceled for no reason. Almost everyone has to spend several hundred yuan¹ every month to buy their own food. People can only buy food once every two or three months, and the prices are exorbitant.

Sometimes during holidays, the kitchen cooks something slightly better than normal, but the guards would not allow the detainees to eat it. I personally saw them throw meat in the toilet rather than give it to the detainees. One time, the sewer was blocked by the meat and vegetables that was thrown away.

Forced labour

Practitioners are forced to do hard labour every day from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.