Jilin Prison: The Den of Evil in Which Liu Chengjun Was Murdered

On October 27, 2003, Clearwisdom.net reported an important news item: "More Than 100 Falun Gong Practitioners on Hunger Strike in Jilin Prison; Mr. Liu Chengjun on Brink of Death." According to a Minghui journalist's report from China, more than 100 Falun Gong practitioners were being held in Jilin Prison at that time, and most of them had gone on a hunger strike to protest the ongoing severe torture by prison guards. The lives of those engaged in this peaceful appeal were in danger. It had been verified that Dafa practitioner Mr. Liu Chengjun was on the verge of death.

Soon after this news was published on Clearwisdom, overseas Falun Dafa practitioners embarked on a rescue effort. Some human rights organisations extended a helping hand. Among them, the Swiss Christian Anti-Torture Organisation wrote to Chinese Chairman Hu Jintao, Police Head in Jilin Province Zhao Yongji, and the Chinese Ambassador in Berne, "...urgently calling for the Provincial Police Head to investigate the situation in the Jilin Provincial Prison and the Police Hospital in Changchun, to put into action necessary measures to protect people from being illegally tortured by prison police."

Liu Chengjun was arrested on March 2002. He suffered from numerous inhuman tortures. Thus, he became too weak to sit in an upright position. (Ref: Picture from China News Net April 1, 2002 issue. Liu Chengjun could not sit in an upright position.)

However, the brutal persecution he suffered in Jilin Prison did not come to an end. On November 26, 2003, 32-year-old Liu Chengjun died after being tormented for one year and nine months. That day, there were many policemen at Jilin Prison, to assure that they could cremate the body at 11 a.m. without interference. The cremation was done without an autopsy and against the family's wishes. Eyewitnesses stated that Liu Chengjun's bloodstains were visible near the nostrils, ears, thighs, and other body parts.

Liu Chengjun was brutally tortured to death for exposing the Jiang regime's lies and fabrications, which are being spread and upheld, sparing no effort. This is another crime against humanity the Jiang regime has committed in its cruel persecution of Falun Gong. Jilin Prison authorities, who are Jiang's persecution tools, also cannot escape responsibility for the crimes they have committed.

The above pictures are of Jilin Province Prison, commonly known as Jilin Province Second Prison, located in Jilin City, Jilin Province. It is located at the Jilin highway exit when traveling from Changchun to Jilin.

Male Dafa practitioners in Jilin Province who are sentenced from several to more than ten years are jailed here without due cause or due process. Over ten Dafa practitioners who intercepted Changchun cable TV signals on March 5, including Lei Ming, Liang Zhenxing, and Liu Chengjun have been detained here and suffered inhuman torture. According to reliable information from Jilin, more than 100 Falun Gong practitioners are still being detained here as of October 2003.

Jilin Prison has tortured the detained Falun Gong practitioners in the most inhuman ways. The methods are brutal and heinous. They are too appalling to watch.

1．Brutal Tortures: "Small Cell," "Strictly Monitored Cell," and "The Dead Person's Bed"

A new torture method was developed in Jilin prison. A person's four limbs are tied to iron chains. The chains are pulled tight so that the body is suspended in midair. It can last 3 or 4 days or even longer. The victim's lower backs, ankles, and other joints will be dislocated. After additional days the four limbs will be completely disabled.

The torture called "dead person's bed:" a person's four limbs are tightly tied to iron chains, then the chains are pulled tight so that the body is suspended in midair. After these preparations, all joints are hit with a small hammer, made of leather, until they become dislocated or turn black and blue.

Since June, 2003, the majority of Falun Dafa practitioners, unlawfully imprisoned at Jilin Prison, decided to validate Dafa. All those who wrote the "Four Statements" (statements renouncing Falun Gong; further details below) were victims of the tremendous pressure they experienced, and thus it cannot be considered to have been done out of their free will. They wrote a solemn declaration, declaring that the "Four Statements" they signed are null and void, which they handed to the police in person. They expressed that they would cultivate Dafa steadfastly to the end. At the same time, most of the practitioners refused to join the so-called "re-education through labour" programme and protested against it with a hunger strike. Their steadfast belief infuriated the police to the point that they persecuted the practitioners even more aggressively. Since October 2000, over a dozen Falun Dafa practitioners have been kept in the "small cells" and physically tortured. Recently, the vicious crimes committed in Jilin Jail have been frequently reported to the public. Although they are terrified of being exposed for their crimes, the police have become more vicious and began torturing Dafa practitioners with the "dead person's bed" torture method.

One of the tortures uses reinforcing bars (rebar) fixed onto a board. They twist the bodies of the practitioners between these bars. The practitioners' hands or legs are pulled apart in the upper or lower sideways positions. After the practitioners' bodies are pulled to the extreme, they will tie the practitioners' bodies in a twisted position. The police put sticks, bowls, cans, bottles etc., between their bodies and the board. Finally, they completely suspend the practitioners' bodies in midair. As time passes, the practitioners experience extreme pain, as all joints are at awkward angles. This puts extreme pressure on the joints and tears the ligaments.

Jilin Prison's directive to its police teams is that Falun Dafa practitioners should not be allowed to die in regular jail cells. All of them should be sent to the "small" or "strictly monitored" cells. In these cells, all deaths will be counted as a "suicide" or a "natural death."

All the "small cells" in the jail are filled to capacity with practitioners. Due to lack of space, the police invented something even more inhuman. They reused the old, dilapidated small cells that had not been in use for a long time and installed a kind of torture bed there. They forced these Falun Dafa practitioners onto the bed. They also installed ropes to hang the practitioners up off the ground. Under this brutal torture, many Falun Dafa practitioners' arms and legs became severely swollen to the point that they were too ghastly to look at. The peaceful Falun Dafa practitioners have been tortured to permanent deformity.

Since practitioner Zhang Hongwei was arrested in May 2002, he had been held in what is called a "strictly monitored" or "small" cell. He was dragged onto the bed, handcuffed to it with his four limbs pulled apart like an "X". He was tortured like this for hours at a time and sometimes for several days. This went far beyond anyone's forbearance. Zhang has been in this merciless jail section for one year and seven months. His physical health has deteriorated tremendously.

Liang Zhenxing in a jail cell (Picture from China News Net April 1, 2002 issue.)

A practitioner named Liang Zhenxing was ordered to write the "Four Statements." He refused, so he was forced to sit on a piece of wood that is less than one inch wide, or alternatively forced to sit on the top of a piece of angle iron. Every day he has to sit like this for over ten hours, or he would be tortured more severely. Practitioners Lei Ming, Yang Feng, Teng Weiqiang and Zheng Weidong also suffered under this severe torture. Some of them had their hands and feet stretched horribly, and their fingernails or toenails ripped out during the ordeal. Zhang Hongwei was tied to the "dead person's bed" for many days. The area inside his thighs, as well as other body parts developed gangrene.

In Jilin Prison, there is a "central strict control team" and "small strict control teams" in every prison area. The "central strict control team" is even more vicious in tormenting people and it contains many kinds of torture instruments. Originally there were regulations regarding the use of the instruments, though here these rules don't apply. The most horrible one is the "dead person's bed."

2．Prison guards force practitioners to sit on a "tiger bench," order the criminals to beat practitioners and smash their genitals

In July 2002, Jilin Prison experienced a critical situation. Prison Commissar Liu Changjiang organised conferences with the education section, the prison's politics section, punishment execution unit and respective leaders of every prison area. The conferences were held often and were solely to discuss the subject of how to deal with Falun Gong practitioners. They decided to separate newly jailed practitioners and send them to every "small strict control team" of each prison sector. According to the prison law, it is illegal to have "small strict control teams" in every prison sector. Such teams should not exist. The criminal leader of each area will control the respective team. It is basically a special tool for the prison guards and criminal leaders to extort other's personal belongings, and the place for the prison guards to collude with the criminals and gangs to torture, physically punish and extort things from innocent people. The guards order the criminals of the "strict control team" to cruelly "supervise" Falun Gong practitioners. After the practitioners arrive in the "strict control team," they are forced to sit on the "tiger bench." Their legs must be straight and form a 90-degree angle with the upper body. A slight movement will cause terrible pain. Practitioners have to sit there from 5:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. except during mealtimes. Even the time to use toilets is severely restricted. After a few days of sitting in this posture, practitioners' buttocks are covered with blisters that are bloody, and they can't walk anymore. Falun Gong practitioner Yang Guang was put in the "strict control team" for three months; he was confined to a small cell for two months, and was also forced to endure the stretching bed. His legs could not move from sitting on the "tiger bench." Police guards asked inmates Xu Zhigang and Gao Guoxing of the No. Four Team to torture Lei Ming. They kicked his head and private parts. Then, the prison guards put him onto a special bed, where they tied his head and limbs down tightly. While in this excruciating position, they tried to have him write the "four statements".

Lei Ming in a jail cell (Picture from China News Net April 1, 2002 issue.)

Lei Ming was forced to write a "letter of repentance" after brutal beatings. During his detention in a small cell, he bit his finger open with his teeth to write a solemn declaration in blood, which invalidated the "letter of repentance." Later, the prison police inhumanly and relentlessly beat him.

Ordered by the prison guards, the prisoners brutally beat practitioners every 15 minutes to try to force them to give up their practice of Falun Gong. In the No. 6 Division, practitioner Xin Yuanjun's teeth were knocked out. Then, six or seven prisoners forced a Dafa practitioner down and smashed his genitals in order to cause maximum pain. Many practitioners were hospitalized because of this torture. Dafa practitioner Lei Ming was sent to the "strict control team" by the No. 4 Division head Song and was forcibly shackled to the stretching bed. Prisoners Xu Zhigang and Gao Guoguang assisted in the torture. In the No. 6 Division, policeman Zhou ordered prisoners to beat practitioner Liang Zhenxing to force him to write "the four statements" In the No. 5 Division, practitioner Zheng Weidong was beaten frequently, was denied privacy and was even monitored while going to the toilet. In the No. 3 Division, for refusing to write "the four statements," the practitioners were forced to maintain a sitting position from 5:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. without any break. They were barely allowed to wash their faces. For refusing to give up his belief in Falun Dafa, practitioner Zhang Hongwei from Shulan City was sent to the "strict control team" twice and was forced to sit on hard benches all day for a total of four months [Note: typically this type of prolonged sitting causes severe sores on practitioners' buttocks that often become infected and extremely painful]. Practitioner Liu Zhaojian from Baishan City was on a hunger strike for 83 days because he refused to write "the four statements." Practitioner Yang Feng is often brutally tortured. He was forced to endure the stretching bed. As a result, one of his arms became disabled and he cannot turn his arm inwards. His genitals are also injured and inflamed from the torture. The jail is not willing to provide him medical treatment. Yang Feng suffers continuous pain.

3. Persecutors force practitioners to write the "four statements" through mental and physical tortures

An inside source at Jilin Prison divulged that Dafa practitioners were subjected to brainwashing continuously for two months. During this period, the practitioners were not allowed to sleep and were pressured to write the so-called "four statements." The most vicious method in persecuting Dafa practitioners occurs when the prison guards and officials order some criminal inmates to beat the Dafa practitioners. These inmates are promised sentence reductions if they are able to force the practitioners, through any inhuman means, to write the statements. They could get three to five points for every statement and three points make them eligible for a sentence reduction.

The so-called "four statements" are: a confession of guilt, a repentance statement, a guarantee statement and a dissociation statement. The confession of guilt statement is to confess committing a crime and to state Falun Gong is a [slanderous term omitted]. The repentance statement is stating regret over practising in the past. The guarantee statement is to promise to no longer to practise Falun Gong. The disassociation statement is to denounce Falun Gong and declare separation from Falun Gong. In order to obtain the reward for getting practitioners to write the "four statements," the guards of "small strict control teams" in 12 prison districts use various methods to inhumanly torture Falun Gong practitioners.

Falun Gong practitioners are not granted any freedom. They are supervised 24 hours a day and are not allowed to talk to each other, or they would be tied to the stretching bed. Since the time they get up at 5:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m., they are forced to sit on benches. Even the use of the toilet is also monitored. Their behaviour is recorded every half hour and reported once a week. They are not allowed to send letters or meet with family members.

For example, the 6th prison district chief Wei Xianghui clearly instructed the guards, "Don't be soft on Falun Gong." The inmates' leader Li Ming, Zhao Guangcun, Liu Gan, and Chen Zhiqiang treat Falun Gong practitioners as if they are wild animals. Practitioners Teng Weiqiang, Xin Yanjun, Lu Ran, Wang Zhiqiang, Liang Zhenxing, Yang Guang were all inhumanly tortured. The guards forcefully squeezed their testicles, stuck fingers in the gaps between their ribs, beat practitioners with a rubber tube filled with water and brutally beat Falun Gong practitioners' backs and waists with the soles of their shoes. Practitioner Xin Yanjun served in the air force before he was arrested, and his health situation was very good. After the torment, he became very skinny and emaciated. From this it should not be hard to imagine how others have been affected. Before the Chinese New Year in 2003, prisoner Li Ming used a rubber tube to beat Liang Zhenxing. Liang's head was knocked into the radiator. He bled a lot and fainted. The prison district feared it might cause righteous indignation, so they blocked the news immediately, and warned the eyewitnesses of the consequences if they told others about it. This is not an unusual method used by the "strict control team" of the 6th prison district to torment Falun Gong practitioners, as other districts do the same.

The jail commissar Liu Changjiang publicly ordered the police to use criminals for beating Falun Gong practitioners, and to monitor them 24 hours a day. Practitioners who do not write the "four statements" are deprived of sleep. Practitioners injured by the inmates are reported as having suffered from a self-inflicted injury. Practitioners are suffering through this daily.

A Falun Gong practitioner who has been illegally detained in Jilin Prison wrote to Clearwisdom.net: "Sometimes about 5 or 6 prisoners surrounded me and kicked my back. Seeing no effect, they pulled me to the floor. There were 6 people holding me on the floor and violently hitting me with a wooden board on my back, close to my kidneys and buttocks and yelling obscenities. They did this until my skin was torn apart. I was in extreme pain, and felt like I had died several times. When they got tired of beating me, they set up a wooden board and forced me to sit on it. I was bleeding all over my buttocks and sitting on the board was like sitting on needles. They still didn't leave me alone and continued to kick me from behind. My underwear was soaked in blood. A few days later, when the bloody clothes were stuck to my wounds, they tore the clothes off me. This was a torture beyond human language. They put some medicine on me to continue their torture under the disguise of treating me. They again forced me to write the "four letters" which I signed under pressure. I now declare that it was against my own will and I was forced to do this. Afterwards, my heart was filled with sadness and sorrow that was beyond words. After that they didn't allow me to talk to anyone until August 2003. Staff member Li called me for a talk, and I told him that I had been tortured. He yelled at me "Who tortured you? Who witnessed it? If you don't accept our management, we will force you to!"

Falun Gong practitioners not only encounter extreme physical torture, but also experience serious mental injury.

4．The Jilin Prison issued a secret order: "Death due to force-feeding will be counted as suicide."

The authorities of Jilin Prison have issued a secret order to isolate the Falun Gong practitioners who have gone on hunger strikes into small cells for close surveillance and force-feeding. Deaths that occur due to force-feeding will be counted as suicides or deaths from natural causes. The following seven practitioners are being tortured by force-feeding: Zhang Chunyu, Yang Feng, Zhang Hongwei, Liu Zhaojian, Lei Ming, Wang Juncheng and Liang Zhenxing.

The prison authorities have forbidden all staff from allowing any Falun Gong practitioners to die in the jail dormitory. So the practitioners are locked into small cells, where each death will be regarded as either a natural death or a suicide.

Liu Chengjun was tortured to death one month after Clearwisdom.net reported that more than 100 practitioners in Jilin Prison went on a hunger strike to protest inhumane torture. The report said that Liu Chengjun's life was in danger. The inhumane and brutal torture is still continuing in Jilin Prison, the situation of jailed Falun Gong practitioners is extremely grave.

Changchun City in Jilin Province is Teacher Li Hongzhi's hometown where he first taught people Falun Gong and its principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. It has helped many people regain their health, raise moral standards, taught them to be helpful to other people and to be outstanding citizens. Those practitioners who have been sentenced or jailed have not committed any crimes. They only refuse to give up being good people and to follow the principles in their daily lives.

However, Jiang Zemin's regime controls and blocks the news of the persecution. As a result, the outside world has no news about the present condition of uncounted for practitioners. We ask all the kind-hearted and righteous people in the world to continue to speak up to prevent further tragedy like the torturous, tragic death of Liu Chengjun and other practitioners. At the same time, we appeal for the end of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, the punishment of the murderers, and the unconditional release of all practitioners jailed in Jilin Prison.

The persecutors in Jilin Prison are：

Jilin Prison Commissar：Liu Changjiang
Education section chief：Tan Fuhua
Education section clerk：Li Yongsheng
Jilin Prison political section chief：Liu Wei
4th brigade clerk：Zhang Guilin
6th brigade chief：Pang Hongjun
5th brigade chief：Surnamed Lin（his first name is unknown）（this person is the most inhuman among all of them）
Criminal acts by: Xu Zhigang, Gao Yulin and Guo Shutie
Jilin Prison telephone numbers：
The Prison manager：86-432-4885488，Secretary：86-432-4881559
Political section：Chief Liu Wei 86-432-2409418，
Education section telephone：86-432-4881551 transfer 3040
Jilin Prison Administrative Bureau： 86-431-275-0068,
Jilin Prison Administrative Bureau Disciplinary Inspection Committee: 86-431-275-0061，86-431-275-0057
Jilin Prison Administrative Bureau Political Supervision Section：86-431-275-0062

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/1/9/64412.html