Torture Methods Used at Jilin Prison to Force Practitioners to Renounce Their Faith

The brutality that Falun Gong practitioners in China have faced since the start of the persecution in 1999 has known no bounds. Below are just a few of the methods the communist regime has employed in an attempt to make practitioners renounce their peaceful spiritual belief. These are the horrors that have taken place in Jilin Prison, located in Jilin Province.

1. Limbs Dislocated on the “Stretching Bed”

The most cruel form of torture used at Jilin Prison is known as the "stretching bed." The victim's four limbs are tied to a special frame, which has four metal rings attached to the corners. The practitioner's hands and feet are affixed to the rings, and force is then applied to the rings.

Then the body is lifted up in the air, stretching the four limbs, until the joints, muscles, flesh, and skin separate. It is extremely painful, and the victim loses consciousness in a few minutes.

After a dozen minutes of this torture, the four limbs are dislocated, and the victim is rendered disabled.

After the victim is stretched this way for 20-30 minutes and the limbs have become numb, he would be released. The tormentors would then massage his hands and legs, which only adds to the brutality of the torture. When the limbs regain sentience, the victim would be stretched again.

A convict once said: “I've been here so long, and I have never seen anyone who can endure this torture three times.” Practitioners Wang Zengwu and Tan Qiucheng were put through this torture of being stretched and then released three times.

Practitioner Shi Wenzhuo, detained in Ward No. 1, was subjected to this torture for 30 minutes in May 2004.

Ms. Wu Yifeng was brutally beaten up many times while she was imprisoned at Jilin Prison. She was also subjected to the “stretching bed” torture. Only her buttocks touched the bed. Two convicts grabbed her limbs and rubbed them against the metal shackles, tearing the flesh. Ms. Wu was in such pain that she lost control of her bladder and urinated.

The next day, guards sent her to the hospital for fear that she might die and they would be held responsible. The doctors and nurses were aghast upon seeing her injuries. One of them exclaimed, “You have treated her too viciously!”

Mr. Cao Zhonghua was detained in Ward No. 9. He was not only viciously beaten, but also subjected to the stretching torture in early June 2004. Mr. Cao fainted from the abuse. His tormentors eventually sent him to the prison hospital.

Mr. Liu Jinxin was detained in Ward No. 1. He was bound to the stretching bed for 3 days in January 2005. Mr. Zhang Hongwei was detained in Ward No. 10 since early 2002. He was subjected to the stretching torture many times.

Mr. Lei Ming was also subjected to this torture. He was bound to the stretching bed for 7 days. Mr. Zheng Weidong from Ward No. 1 and Mr. Liang Zhen from Ward No. 6 were among the many practitioners who were similarly tortured.

Mr. Tan Qiucheng, detained in Division No. 5, was also affixed to the stretching bed. He bit through his tongue as a result of the pain from the torture.

Mr. Zhang Jianhua from Yushu City, Jilin Province, died from torture on the stretching bed on the Chinese New Year in 2004.

Sun Qianhe, 36, from Dehui City and Liu Zhaojian from Baishan City were also subjected to this torture. Their limbs were dislocated as a result. They were then transferred to the ward for the elderly and the handicapped. Another practitioner's legs were permanently disabled after he was tortured on the stretching bed. He was detained in Ward No. 9.

2. Stretched and Twisted

In this form of torture, the victim's limbs are stretched to the maximum on an angle and then bound to the metal fixtures attached to a bed board. The body becomes twisted, and items such as wooden clubs, basins, canned food, etc., may be put under the body. Finally, the body is lifted and hung in the air.

After some time, the victim's joints would become severely overextended, which is extremely painful.

In this torture, one faces the ground, and ropes are used to stretch the limbs in all directions. The victim who was initially lying on the ground is lifted up. After three attempts, the flesh in one's wrists and ankles would be torn apart; the muscles would also be pulled and snapped apart. Consequently, the person becomes disabled.

Mr. Sun Qian was tortured this way. One usually cannot tolerate such torture even twice, but Mr. Sun was stretched like this three times. In the end, his muscles were torn, and he was sent to the ward for the elderly and disabled.

3. Bound to the Bed

In this form of torture, the victim is affixed to the bed, but his body is not lifted up. In contrast to the “stretching bed” torture, the limbs are tied loosely. One is tied to the bed continuously for long periods of time, except to pass excrement. The victim urinates and sleeps on the bed. The torture becomes more and more unbearable the longer one is bound to the bed.

There are 17 such beds at Jilin Prison, and many practitioners have been subjected to this form of torture.

Mr. Zeng Hongyan was bound to the bed for over 20 days in October 2003. Mr. Wang Hongliang, who was detained in Ward No. 5, was tortured this way for more than 10 days in October 2003.

Mr. Zhang Hongwei was affixed to the bed for 58 days.

Mr. Bai Ye was put through this form of torture for 15 days. Mr. Li Dehai was tormented by this method for 1.5 days. He bit through his tongue due to the pain stemming from the abuse.

Mr. Wang Juncheng went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. He also wrote a letter to the prison Communist Party Committee, requesting that Falun Gong practitioners be treated fairly. In retaliation, the prison authorities transferred him to a small cell in October 2003. Mr. Wang was bound to the bed for more than 30 days.

Mr. Zhang Chunyu was detained in a small cell on the morning of October 28th, 2003, 6 days after he started a hunger strike. He was tied to a bed for 34 days. His legs and back became swollen, and he could not sit up.

4. Body Restraint Suit

The body restraint suit is a one-piece, tight-fitting garment. It has been used as a form of torture in Jilin Prison since the autumn of 2008.

The garment is made of thick cloth around 5.6 feet long. There is only one tiny hole in the suit—in the area of the mouth to allow one to breathe. The victim's hands and body are either bound or taped first, before he is forced into the suit.

Once the suit is zipped up, one can only lie straight on the ground, like a corpse. There is no room for movement, and after some time, one becomes breathless from the torture.

Some practitioners were injured and disabled and others died from this torture.

Mr. Zhang Wenfeng, Mr. Teng Weiqiang, and Mr. Wang Hongliang, as well as other practitioners, have been subjected to this form of torture.

5. Forced to Sit on a Board

In this form of torture, one is forced to sit cross-legged on a board, with the body upright and both hands on the kneecaps. There is no cushion on the board. The victim is not allowed to move and must maintain this posture.

To make sure the person does not move, a straight line is smoothed out on the back of his clothes. If the line disappears, it means he has moved. As punishment, he would be either reprimanded or whipped. He may also be put through other, more brutal forms of torture, such as being hung up or put on the stretching bed.

One is typically forced to sit on the board for as long as 13 hours a day, from 5 in the morning until 8 at night.

Many practitioners' ankles were blistered and oozed out pus from sitting for long hours, and their buttocks festered. Many also lost control over their bowel movements, passing urine and excrement in the pants.

There are over a dozen rows of long benches in the “strict control” unit of the prison. The front-row benches are less than 24 inches wide and 12 inches tall. The back rows are slightly wider.

Every day from morning till night, practitioners detained in this division are forced to sit motionless and straight on these benches. If they make so much as a slight movement, the convicts watching them beat them fanatically.

Mr. Li Huzhe was one of the practitioners forced to sit on a bench like this.

Mr. Liang Zhenxing was made to sit on a bench less than an inch wide. He was also forced to sit on an angled iron rod for over 10 hours a day.

Mr. Liu Chengjun was forced to sit on a vertical board for so long that the flesh on his buttocks rotted. He felt as if he was sitting on needles.

6. Hung Up and Beaten

In this torture, the victim's hands are handcuffed, and he is hung up by the handcuffs, with legs off the ground. The handcuffs cut into the flesh, and the joints are often dislocated.

Some practitioners were beaten or burned with cigarette butts while being hung up. Many practitioners were tortured this way.

After Mr. Jin Chengquan was hung up, six guards took turns whipping him. They bashed him with wooden clubs, punched him with their fists, kicked him with their shoes and whipped him nonstop. His mouth was sealed with adhesive tape, and his nostrils were burned with six cigarette butts until he lost consciousness. The tormentors then poured cold water to wake him up and continued to torture him.

7. Brutally Force-Fed

Jilin Prison once issued a secret order to lock all practitioners who went on a hunger strike into a small cell and closely monitor them. These practitioners were brutally force-fed. If they died in the process, it was regarded as “normal death.”

One practitioner recalled: “I was dragged out of the cell on June 26th, 2006, and put on the stretching bed. After that, several convicts started to force-feed me. Some held my legs, and some held my head. The metal cuffs cut into my bones, and the pain was excruciating. My head felt as if it was going to explode; I was bleeding and breathless. I nearly suffocated to death. Inmate Ding Zhaosong kept pushing a tube into my abdomen. The convicts fed me salt-water porridge while someone prodded my abdomen and rubbed it repeatedly. I felt the porridge move from my stomach to the intestines. [After being released] I rushed to the toilet, passing it all out, together with blood and water.”

Mr. Sun Qian went on a hunger strike to protest the abuse in the prison on October 28th, 2004. During the force-feeding, his nostrils were injured and started to bleed. He was fed concentrated salt water; afterward, he was not allowed to drink any water.