Atrocities Committed Behind the Scenes at the Baimalong Labour Camp

I was abducted and detained in Squad Two of the Baimalong Labour Camp in Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province. Four practitioners were detained in Squad Two together with the rest of the prisoners, who were all either drug addicts, prostitutes and thieves.

We practitioners were detained in four different cells. When we saw each other, the guards did not allow us to speak to each other. The guards designated three criminal prisoners to "supervise" our behaviour 24 hours a day, taking notes of our words and behaviour. The handcuffs were under the charge of the head of the prisoners. If we practised the exercises at night, they would allow us to wear only a thin layer of clothing in winter, handcuff us to the side of the upper bed for a whole night, and deny us the use of the washroom. We had no choice but to defecate in our pants.

Ms. Yang Chunlan, a Dafa practitioner from Yuanjiang, refused to work upstairs until the guards had returned Teacher Li's articles that they had taken away from her. Yao Wen, the head prisoner, together with several other prisoners, grabbed her hair and dragged her from the first floor up to the third floor. A bunch of Yang Chunlan's hair was pulled off along with some of her scalp. She became faint right away. Wan, the head of a section, said that she was faking. Quickly pulling up the faint Yang Chunlan and using a stool to support her body, Yao Wen handcuffed one of her hands to the window for three days.

Ms. Li Qiaozhen, a Dafa practitioner from Huitong county, was sitting on a small stool in the cell after supper. Yao Wen asked He Xueyan, a drug addiction prisoner, to beat her. As soon as He Xueyan came into the cell, she hit Li Qiaozhen in the face with her fist several times. As a result, Li Qiaozhen's nose began to bleed quickly without stopping. Her winter coat and pants became soaked in blood.

Ms. Xia Ting, a 30 year-old Dafa practitioner from Suzhou, worked in Shenzhen city after graduating from the university. She was arrested and sentenced to a year and half in prison for distributing Dafa truth materials in Xiangtan city. She went on a hunger strike for 42 days. During this period, she was not allowed to go to bed downstairs until 2:00 A.M. when the last shift of prisoners finished work. The doctors in the forced labour camp gave her high dose injections of a drug known as "Somnifacient" that caused her complete loss of memory and loss of balance. She could not stand and could not take care of herself. Her term was extended for another year. When her family and the local "610 office" [an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems] came to pick her up on April 12, 2003, she could not walk without support. The labour camp forced her family to pay 2000 Yuan [500 Yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China] for the drug injections.

In January 2001, the forced labour camp arrested and detained hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners. Bitter screaming could be heard all the time from the squad (section) where the practitioners were detained. It was raining in February. Practitioners were handcuffed to all the clothes lines in the squad yard for all day and all night. Shorter practitioners could only touch the ground with their toes. More than twenty were detained in Section two, with one practitioner (thrown together with the crmininal inmates) in each cell. The guards began a round of even more cruel torture.

Wan XX often ordered the special guards with big leather boots to stomp on her feet and to trample her. One day in March, a guard dragged her to the solitary compartment. Then, about seven special guards grabbed her limbs and shocked her whole body, even her eyelids and eyebrows, with electric batons. When she was dragged back to her cell at midnight, she had already lost consciousness. The "cangues" [Note: cangue, the name of an instrument of torture, is now used to indicate the person who was designated to supervise the behaviour of practitioners] carried her to the bed and helped her take off her clothes. Her whole body had turned purple-red. Her underwear was cut open with scissors. Her lower body was covered with blood. Even the cangues were in tears. Ms. Hu was tortured to the verge of death many times. When the forced labour camp told her family members to come to see her, they would place her for intravenous treatment in Room 9, a comfortable room upstairs in the clinic. On hot summer days in July, two bottles of albumin [egg protein] were placed on a table. The prison guards kept telling her family members how Ms. Hu was "against the government" and how well the forced labour camp treated her by giving her injections of albumin and spending more than ten thousand Yuan on her [500 yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China] in medical expenses, and so forth. At that time, Ms. Hu Yuehui could not remember anything at all, but only could say "It is not wrong to practise (Falun Gong) exercises!" Her family members thought what the guards said was true. As soon as her family members left, the guards placed her in a storage room in the hall where nobody could see her. No more albumin could be seen. Her teeth were all knocked out due to force-feeding.

In January 2002, the prison guards said to the other Dafa practitioners who were on a hunger strike, "What is the use of your hunger strike? Hu Yuehui's liver became rotten as a result of her hunger strike." In fact, they had known that Hu Yuehui's life was in danger, but they still did not release her. In October 2002, the labour camp let Hu Yuehui go home. She was on the verge of dying after a year and half of hunger strike. Several months after Hu Yuehui left, one still could see the form which showed the extended two years prison term on the corridor wall of the cell. When Dafa practitioners overseas asked about the persecution that Hu Yuehui had suffered, one director of the forced labour camp who did not give his name said, "This person died after she went home. It has nothing to do with the forced labour camp."

A country woman with the family name Zhou from Hengyang District resolutely refused to write the statement of repentence. Wan XX encouraged several prisoners to cover her with a blanket and beat her up, and then to quickly run away. Ms Zhou cried hard because of the pain. Then, prison guards came in and asked why she was crying. Ms Zhou answered, "They beat me. My face and my body turned black and blue after they beat me." The prison guards shouted, "Who saw someone beat her?" Nobody answered. The prison guards said, "You are making trouble again. We will detain you in the guard room if you go on like this."

Ms Guo Zhaoqing, a 28-year old Dafa practitioner from Yiyang city, was handcuffed for three weeks after she was taken to Section 2 in January 2001. The prison guards often forced her to walk in public in handcuffs. Her hand lost any feeling for more than half a year due to the handcuffs. Ms. Guo's sentence was extended for a year. In 2002, her throat and stomach became swollen after several months of hunger strike. The guards notified the local "610 office" to pick her up only when she was on the verge of dying in October 2002.

The labour camp had strict rules forbidding smoking and the sale of cigarettes. However, there were always cigarettes in the cell. One Baisha (a brand name) cigarette sold for 15 to 20 Yuan, and 25 Yuan on special holidays (a pack of 20 cigarettes sells for 5 Yuan in the market.) The Section head and the cell head were the biggest peddlers. Through force and deceit, they lent money they made from selling the cigarettes to the prisoners, who were grateful to tears. They finished a pack of cigarettes soon after they got it for hundreds of Yuan. When the money sent to them from their families arrived, it would be confiscated. They did not even have money to buy toilet paper. As a result, the prisoners stole from each other. During the Spring Festival, the prison guards gave two cigarettes to the prisoners as "lucky money" instead of the typical "lucky money" gifts that are given on Chinese New Year that they should have given to the prisoners. They treated the prisoners as their personal slaves, asking the prisoners to wash their clothes, to massage them, to wash their hair, and bodies, to knit sweaters, to make shoes, etc. The prisoners 'terms could be reduced by doing these things. The prison guards' washing powder, night meals and breakfast, and work tools were all paid for by the prisoners. They never gave the prisoners "moral and legal education" that they were created to do, but required each prisoner to buy the same kind of notebook for writing answers to political questions. Their notes would be put in one's file folder for the purpose of inspection by their supervisors. Whenever their supervisors came for inspection, they would improve the quality of meals. However, everything would go back to normal after the supervisors left.

The so-called "Group Touring the Nation to Give Speeches" came. Zhu Xiuzhi, a collaborator [a former Falun Gong practitioner who has stopped practising due to brainwashing and torture and now assists in the persecution] from Jilin province, attempted to deceive Dafa practitioner Chen Huimin to betray her belief, but she refused. Right away, Chen Huimin exposed the situation in which the police and criminals worked together to persecute Dafa practitioners. Chen Huimin was 56 years old. She had breast cancer in 1994. After she had a mastectomy on her right breast, the cancer spread to the left breast. Her life was renewed in 1996 after she began the practice of Falun Dafa. However, she was sentenced to a three-year prison term for organizing a Fa-conference.

Wan XX condemned the designated personal cangues many times saying, "If you are soft-hearted to her, I will not treat you politely." Wan XX changed her designated personal cangues and her cell many times. Wan XX also dragged her out and handcuffed her from the back to the window for 18 hours. Her right arm that was affected from her cancer surgery immediately suffered from lymphedema and became swollen to a huge size. Wan XX even got the drug addict prisoners to falsely accuse Ms. Chen of instigating a hunger strike.

All of a sudden, a lot of yellow fluid began to flow out of Chen Huimin's lower body and her pants were soaked by it. Meanwhile, she had a severe pain in her abdomen. Wan XX ordered a prisoner to drag Ms. Chen to the third floor to work. The provincial tumour hospital examined and diagnosed Ms. Chen ordering her to lie in bed to rest. The forced labour camp arranged for Ms. Chen to leave the cell and stay in the upstairs clinic for more than one month. Then she was transferred to another section. Half a year passed. Out of jealousy and hatred, Wan XX personally created two monthly report forms to replace the previous ones, prolonging her term by 28 days on the grounds that she had missed work while she stayed in the clinic.

Ms. Wang Fuhua, 32-year old Dafa practitioner from Chenzhou city, was on a hunger strike for days. Wan XX, together with the special prison guards, knocked out three of her teeth, and two more almost came out, as a result of force-feeding. Dafa practitioner Wen Huiying from Taoyuan county also lost two front teeth and was tied to the bed to have intravenous injections. The police denied her the use of the washroom. The prison guards tried to humilate her for her belief by saying, "Practising the exercises made you eliminate on the bed."

Ms Yang Youyuan is a 64 year-old country woman from Huai Hua area. Originally, she was detained in Section 2. Although she couldn't read at all, she could recite many of Teacher's articles. When she was reciting articles, her lips moved a lot. Wan XX often cursed her as having a mental illness. In addition to beating Ms Yang, Wan XX aften asked the special police to beat and kick her. Wan XX even sent Ms. Yang to the mental hospital. Ms. Yang became mute and jaundiced after she came back from the mental hospital. And she was sentenced to another prison term. On June 2002, the police got the local "610 office" to pick her up after being released from two years of prison. Such situations are too numerous to report them all. Wan XX has received rewards many times from Jiang Zemin's regime because of her persecution of Falun Gong.

When I was walking out of the cell, I saw the plants and shrubs looking green and well tended. Even the grass on the ground looked happy. The newly constructed buildings along the sides of the road corresponded to the colourful tiles on the walls of the cell buildings. It looked so harmonious and quiet by reflecting each other. The difference between the inside and outside was so huge. If I had not suffered the persecution myself there, I would have had a hard time imagining it was possible.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/1/2/63840.html