The Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in Jilin Province Women's Prison

The Education Ward of the Women's Prison in Jilin Province specializes in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. Under the instruction of prison director Wu Zelan, former captain Cao Hong, Ni Xiaohong, Zhang Shuling, and Sun Jisheng, police officers tried all kinds of tactics and took turns torturing practitioners. They tried to force them to give up practising Falun Gong.

Ms. Sun Xiuxia persecuted to death

Ms. Sun Xiuxia, 50, from Changchun City was persecuted to death on April 30th, 2012. She was transferred from the prison to the China-Japan Friendship Hospital for emergency treatment that same day. When her family members were changing her clothes, they found Ms. Sun's lower body very stiff and her lower abdomen stuffed with toilet paper and towels. Fluid was oozing out of her navel and legs.

Police officers in the Education Ward instruct and reward criminals and collaborators (former practitioners, brainwashed against Falun Gong, made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners) to get them to abuse practitioners. Whoever participates gets out of doing work and gets her sentence reduced. Due to this arrangement, 98% of the criminals in the Education Ward are personal monitors involved in "transforming" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] and tormenting Falun Gong practitioners. There are a total of four squads. The criminal inmates are: Li Changzhi, Liu Xiangbin, Guan Ying, Zhang Yanling, Zhou Baifeng, Ma Yan, Gao Yan, and Li Jianli (all convicted or murder); Zhang Yanmei, Qin Xueyun, Cui Yang, Li Shuang, Pang Shuyan, Guan Lijie, Guan Liping, and Wang Yufang (very bad); Zhong Xinmei and Zhao Xingmei. The collaborators are: Liu Baoqin, Li Minghua, Yu Xuewei, Zhao Yingjie, and Li Haihong. There are many unknown people participating in the persecution since they come and go. Personal monitors and collaborators can switch every four hours.

Ms. Gao Hui

Falun Gong practitioners detained in the prison were sent to the “Education Ward” on the third floor and watched closely by several personal monitors. If they refused to study and refused to be "transformed," they would be forced to stand from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. They will be tied with ropes, mostly on the third floor. There is a special bed in each of the seven cells on the third floor used by four squads. They tie the practitioners' hands and feet to the beds and seal their mouths with tape so they can't speak. They are not allowed to wear trousers, and a urinal is shoved under them. The prison personnel try to force the practitioners to "reform" their thinking. Practitioner Ms. Gao Hui from Dehui came at the end of 2008. She was tortured with rope tying on the third floor. Her trousers were wet, but she was not allow to change them. Monitors enclosed her in a large plastic bag with only her head exposed. She had to relieve herself in the plastic bag.

Ms. Gao Yuxiang

When Ms. Gao Yuxiang was detained by the close supervision team, personal monitors deprived her of sleep for 24 hours, not allowing her to close her eyes or move as she stood. The feet and legs of practitioners become swollen, and they cannot wear shoes, so they have to stand barefoot on a concrete floor. Monitors badmouthed and cursed Ms. Gao and pushed her to try to make her sit on pictures of Teacher Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, that were glued to a board. She refused to sit on Teacher's pictures. Several monitors pushed her and held her down on them. Later they sent Ms. Gao to another cell to be tortured with the rope tying method.

Ms. Wang Qingwen and Ms. Chen Shuqin

Ms. Wang Qingwen, 68, was forced to sit on a board. When she was sleeping during the night, monitors glued Teacher's pictures to the board so that she would sleep on them. She refused to. Several of them cursed her and lifted her onto the bed. One night Ms. Wang went to the toilet before bedtime. There was a plastic bucket in the restroom. Wang Zhuanhong, the person on duty, went to the toilet and forced Mr. Wang's head into the bucket. Ms. Wang shouted and woke up everyone in the cell. Ms. Wang was then sent to the third floor.

Ms. Chen Shuqin was persecuted on the third floor in March 2010. She was sent to the hospital early one morning and never returned.

Ms. Lu Yongzhen

The Education Ward also abuses practitioners on the fifth floor using methods worse than squatting. Ms. Lu Yongzhen was sent to the fifth floor after being tormented on the third floor. On the fifth floor, she had to kneel on washboards, stand on only one foot, and stand motionless with two hands held over her head like an airplane. They tied her limbs to the bed and her head up. They also tied her hands and feet to two separate beds and then pulled the beds apart. They tied Ms. Lu's hands and feet and hung her up. After being tortured like this six times in a row, Ms. Lu developed heart problems. She couldn't breath and felt tightness in her chest. She was even forced to do labour after that.

Ms. Song Yanqun and Ms. Song Lihua

Ms. Song Yanqun was tortured on the third floor and the fifth floor for a long time. Later she was force-fed and had to stand for more than 10 hours. She was tortured until she was very thin and almost dying.

Ms. Song Lihua was sentenced to five years in prison in 2008. She was made to "sit on a board" and to stand from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Her legs and feet swelled, her waist and hips were injured so that she could not stand up and walk, and she still feels the pain several years later. She has to walk very slowly. When she was tortured in prison, she lost a lot of hair. Now she has little hair on the top of her head.

Ms. Liu Xia and Ms. Sun Xiuxia

Ms. Liu Xia was detained in the prison in 2009. She was persecuted on the third and fifth floors. She was not allowed to use the toilet unless she would defame Falun Gong. She now has symptoms of cerebral disease.

Ms. Sun Xiuxia was detained and persecuted on the third and fifth floors in 2011. She has not returned since she was sent to the prison hospital on April 30th, 2012.

Just how many Falun Gong practitioners are suffering persecution today is unknown. It is not a small number.