I am a drug user, dealer and thief. I am incarcerated in the Douyun Prison in Guizhou Province. I have been jailed in Xinjiang, Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces. Many years of prison life taught me how phony the prison political instructors are, and how they lie and deceive people. The more they try to reform the criminals, the worse the criminals will get and damage society even more after they are released. As long as one's sentence can get reduced and living condition have a little improvement, the criminals will do all kinds of bad things that a person with moral standards and a conscience can never imagine. The reason criminals dare to do those bad things is because the government supports them!
The prison policy says that a criminal who has been locked up for three years or more is qualified to monitor Falun Gong practitioners and be involved in their reform1. Political instructor Jiang Fengming, Education section chief Wang Huachuan and some 610 Office2 agents told us in a meeting that if we wanted to get our sentences reduced, and if we don't want to do the heavy labour, then we should try all kinds of methods to torture Falun Gong practitioners, both physically and mentally. We should try our best to crush their wills. If we beat them to death, it will be counted as death from natural causes or suicide, especially for those solid practitioners. We should not have fear, for we have the support from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and we should just go ahead and do it.
On September 10th, 2002, Falun Gong practitioner Yi Siheng was transferred to our hospital ward from the Second Prison Ward. I was assigned to monitor him. I took him to ward chief Liu Shuhuang's office. He was told to greet the chief in a prisoner's way, but he refused to do so. He also said that Falun Gong practitioners are not criminals. The ward chief verbally abused his Teacher and Dafa. Yi Siheng tried to talk to them. They cannot "reform" Yi, so the prison affairs section chiefs Shen Zhijiang and Wang Huachuan decided to put him into solitary. Their reasons were that Yi refused to admit guilt, disobeyed the prison instructor, and blamed the leaders of the country. They ordered five criminals to install metal hooks at each corner of the bed and then they held Yi against the bed, with his feet locked. They tied his feet and hands onto the hooks, and then burned his eyes with a powerful light bulb. He was locked onto the bed and could not move. The chiefs asked us to wait outside and ignored all his requests. They asked us not to release him, even if he needs to use the toilet. They tried to make him realize that prison is a powerful tool in the hands of the CCP. They won't release him until he admits that he is guilty.
Yi had by then been on a hunger strike for five days. The prison doctors force-fed him. Since he refused to take any food, they injected some medicine, which made him unconscious. Even locked onto the bed, Yi still tried to tell the guards and criminals who were monitoring him that Falun Gong teaches people to be good, and how the practitioners are being persecuted. His clarifying the truth won our sympathy. The cruel torture made him very weak and gravely ill. Since he still refused to declare himself guilty, the prison authorities had to release him from the solitary cell and had two criminals monitor him. When we mentioned why Falun Gong is not good according to the lies from TV or newspaper, he always convinced us with Falun Gong's teaching of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," and the solid examples of other Falun Gong practitioners who were also in this prison. Wherever he was, he always asked the criminals to behave well, and consider their family and society. He also told them that he hopes they can find a good job after being released and won't do any bad things. He asked them to remember that "Falun Dafa is good. Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance are good."
We were forced to watch CCTV's news and the "Focal Point" programme. One Saturday night in November, "Focal Point" slandered Falun Gong again. Yi stood up and told all the criminals what "Focal Point" said are all lies, and none of them is true. Somebody reported him to the instructor, so the instructor decreed that no one was allowed to talk to him. He was watched wherever he went, even in the toilet. He told the instructor that he wouldn't obey those rules or accept their arrangement, because dissenting from those is a basic human right. For this reason, he was locked in solitary again and didn't get released until the Chinese New Year. On the morning of Chinese New Year, he talked about Falun Gong to people again, so Liu Shuhuang and another guard locked him in the solitary cell again. He held another a hunger strike for one month to protest, which made him too weak to walk.
On March 5th, 2003, the prison got all the Falun Gong practitioners together and tried to "reform" all of them. Yi was carried out from the solitary cell. Two criminals held him. Jiang Fengming, Wang Huachuan, Shen Zhijiang, Zheng Jiajun, and guards from each prison ward took turns on the stage presenting speeches, attacking Falun Gong and Teacher Li Hongzhi. Yi spoke loudly, "Those are all lies. I won't read or listen anything that slanders my Teacher and Dafa."
Wang Huachuan ordered criminals to put Yi into the solitary cell. He locked Yi's hands onto the bed. Zheng Jiajun locked his feet with heavy shackles. They took away all the bedding during that cold March. He was wearing only very thin clothes. I was there every day when the prison doctor came to force-feed him. I saw that he was already dying. He was too weak to open his eyes. His feet and shoes were soaked with blood. Even so, he refused to give in. He was locked up until twenty days later, when he had no pulse.
Five days after he was released from his fetters, when he was a little better, Wang Huachuan and Zheng Jiajun ordered us (criminal prisoners) to hold his head still and read "reform" propaganda directly into his ears via a big loudspeaker. Since he refused to listen, guard Kong Fanxun carried him to a dark, damp cell and locked him onto the bed. They locked the door and sealed the gap under the door. Then they placed two big speakers next to his ears. Wang Huachuan and Liu Shuhuang ordered eight criminals take turns reading him reform propaganda, playing the "Same Song" and other CCP music during the break. Criminals asked him every six hours whether or not he would reform.
When I arrived, the loud noise almost deafened my ears. I felt that I could not stay for one more second. So, I asked him if he is guilty and if he would reform. Yi was very calm and answered, "Falun Gong didn't commit a crime. I will never reform. Please, don't help the evildoers to do these bad things, for the sake of your own future." His words touched me, so I suggested to other criminals not to torture him so brutally. This three-day-long noise torture did not make him give in. The hunger strike and the sleeplessness made him very weak. He was not taken out of the cell until he was actually dying.
His ears did not recover until six months later. I felt very guilty. But he still cared about my life and my family. He also asked me to obey the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" and to be a good person.
After one month of brutal brainwashing and reform efforts, the prison decided to hold a so-called "expose and help" conference. Some practitioners who gave in under the high pressure gave talks at the conference. They tried to force Yi to listen to the talks, but they were also afraid that Yi would shout, "Falun Dafa is good." So, Wang Huachuan and Liu Shuhuang ordered eight criminals to watch Yi. If he shouted, then they would cover him with a blanket and beat him into unconsciousness, so that Yi won't mess up the conference. One night before the conference, Liu Shuhuang ordered criminals to close the windows and doors tightly so that Yi wouldn't hear any information about the arrangement. Also, criminals and Liu Shuhuang kept pressuring Yi with all kind of methods.
On March 11th, 2004, Jiang Fengming, Wang Huachuan, Zuo Shengli, Zheng Jiajun, Zhong Shan and Wang Shijun put up a lot of posters to viciously slander Teacher Li Hongzhi and Falun Dafa in the hallway and bathroom of the Fourth Ward, which was built for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. The Fourth Ward is for all the newcomers and for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. They tried to use colourful photos with text to brainwash all the newcomers and raise their hatred towards Falun Gong. Falun Gong practitioners started a group hunger strike, asking to talk to guards and make them remove and destroy all the posters. Yi was one of them. He told Zuo Shengli and Zhong Shan, "You are violating the International Human Rights Pact and will have to take unquestionable responsibility." Zuo and Zhong said, "Why don't you talk to the CCP and Jiang Zemin. If they say okay, we will remove those posters."
To protest this, Yi went on a hunger strike. The prison authorities wanted to end this hunger strike as soon as possible, so they tried to destroy Yi's will by force-feeding him. They pulled and pushed the force-feeding tube back and forth, making him bleed. Once, pushing too hard, the 1-cm diameter plastic tube even broke while inserted. They also fed him a large amount of dirty water, in which small bugs were visible.
In order to learn more tricks to persecute Falun Gong, the prison sent Zhong Shan to the Baoding Prison in Hebei, to the Beijing Prison and other prisons where Falun Gong practitioners are incarcerated, and sent Wang Shijun to the Yuzhou Prison in Chongqing to learn their tricks. When they returned after one month, the prison held a clandestine conference to discuss how to reform and monitor Falun Gong practitioners. They ordered the guards and criminals to torture Falun Gong practitioners physically and deprive them of their basic physical rights, such as forbidding practitioners to use the toilet. The guards and criminals will get rewarded (including sentence reductions and financial rewards) each time they "reform" one Falun Gong practitioner.
Wang Shijun said that the buildings in Yuzhou Prison are French style. There are more than 300 Falun Gong practitioners and they are being watched very closely, even when eating or using the bathroom. They cannot have any contact with outsiders. Twelve criminals monitor one practitioner, and a guard is in charge of each of these groups. The guards will give a 5,000-10,000 yuan3 reward for every "reformation," and the criminals will get their sentences reduced. The new building in Douyun Prison is almost finished. Then we will have more than 1,000 prison cells, which will be as good as the ones Yuzhou Prison has. He also said that information disclosed about persecuting Falun Gong must be kept secret, or the inmates will not receive the sentence reductions and other incentives promised to them.
In the hot month of July, Yi was still on a hunger strike. He was too weak and lost his bowel and bladder control, but guards refused to change his beddings and clothes. They also poured hot food and soup onto his bed. This one-year-long hunger strike made him very thin and very weak, but there was no way for him to stop the hunger strike. The prison didn't allow him to wash his face, brush his teeth, shave or change clothes. His beard was six inches long.
They tried all kinds of tactics to make him give in, but all failed. Yi insisted that he would be on a hunger strike until they remove those vicious, slanderous posters. By the time I was released from the prison, Yi had been on the hunger strike for 22 months, and his health was in great danger.
According to a guard who was involved in the reform work but later left, the Douyun Prison chief Hou Lide is Luo Gan's classmate. Luo Gan recognized Douyun Prison as the only "national level civilized prison" in Guizhou Province. For every Falun Gong practitioner jailed there, the government gives twenty thousand yuan to the prison as a "management fee."
After I was released, I read and heard a lot of genuine information about Falun Gong. I rethought all the experiences I had in the prison and I realized how bad the communist regime had deceived me. I felt pained in my heart, so I decided to write about what I saw in the prison as my repentance. I also want to tell those guards and criminal monitors, "Please don't help the evildoers do bad things any longer. It is a heavenly principle that good is rewarded and evil is punished. A person will have to take all the responsibility for what he has done."
Finally, I would like to greet Teacher Li with my sincere heart, and apologize to all the Falun Gong practitioners in Douyun Prison and send my deep regrets. I learned a lot of principles from Falun Gong practitioners and understand how to be a good person. I will tell all my family and friends that in this world, only Falun Gong can change one's mindset and raise humanity's moral standards.
"Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" should be our basic human principle.
Note
1. "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")
2. "The 610 office" is 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.
Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/2/3/120034.html
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