Conditions Surrounding Some Falun Gong Practitioners in Sihui Prison, Guangdong Province

There are two detention sites for the Sihui Prison in Guangdong Province. They are Jiguang Site and Luotang Site. Right now, dozens of male Falun Gong practitioners are held at both sites. They are separated into 18 divisions and a special division, which was established in early 2004. The sole purpose of the special division is to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.

Despite the terrible conditions, incarcerated practitioners still follow Dafa's requirements and are very kind towards everyone. Their reputation of goodness is well known in the prison. All the inmates know that Falun Gong practitioners are good people, and many of them eagerly asked to learn Falun Gong. The inmates clearly know who is at fault, because the guards have abused them for a long time. One group head, a criminal, closely followed the guards' orders and often mistreated Dafa practitioners. Once, he couldn't help it and said in a sincere voice, "You Falun Gong practitioners are truly magnificent!" A new guard who has not yet been polluted by the vices of the prison said to a Dafa practitioner in private, "It's political persecution to detain you guys."

Details of some practitioners held at Sihui Prison:

Mr. Liu Xifeng came from Northeast China. He graduated from Northeastern Normal University and worked as a teacher in Shenzhen City. He was awarded the title "Outstanding Teacher" by the Shenzhen City government, but was arrested many times for his belief. In September 2002, he and his wife were arrested at the same time. His wife was sent to a labour camp and tortured to death. Liu Xifeng was sentenced to ten years in prison and was sent to the Sihui Prison in December 2003. He held a long-term hunger strike and refused to wear the prison uniform. He was forcibly given IV infusions and shackled. Later, he was barely able to walk and grew very weak.

Mr. Tantai Dongdong lived in the Chaoyang District of Beijing. He graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and worked at Shenzhen City Sculpture Research Institute. After he was taken to the Sihui Prison he refused to wear the prison uniform. A dozen guards beat him, breaking three of his ribs and injuring his buttocks, which didn't heal until two months later. He almost lost the ability to speak.

Mr. Fan Chenyu lived in Wangcheng, Changsha City, Hunan Province. He was sentenced to seven years in prison. The persecutors transferred him from the Haizhu District Detention Centre in Guangzhou City to the Sihui Prison in January 2003. He refused to wear the prison uniform and refused to squat in front of the guards. A dozen guards beat him. The same day he arrived at the prison they sent him to the Strictly Controlled Group. Nearly one month later he was sent back to the "regular" division where he did the Falun Gong exercises every day at noon. He gave his food and clothes to the inmates, who said, "Dafa practitioners are truly great!" In March 2003, he covered his ears when the slandering propaganda was played on TV. The group head tortured him. Once, during a so-called study session in the hall, he did the Falun Gong exercises. The group head grabbed him by the collar, dragged him dozens of feet and threw him into an office. This group head later received retribution; he was found to have committed serious crimes. Practitioner Fan Chenyu refused to cooperate with photo shoots, and refused to squat during prison exercises and when talking with the guards. Once when a slandering programme was played on TV, he refused to watch and he refused to call numbers during evening roll call. Guard Liao grabbed his collar, dragged him for more than 30 feet and threw him in the office. Fan Chenyu's forehead was injured from the beating. He was locked onto a metal chair. Four inmates were assigned to watch him. He was sent to the Strictly Controlled Group the next day. He was locked in solitary confinement for nearly two years. His legs were swollen and he was on the brink of a nervous breakdown when he came out. He sometimes made strange noises and he almost completely lost the ability to speak.

Mr. Zhang Yuhui was sentenced to ten years in prison. He was taken to a police department from a detention centre in March 2001 and was tortured for seven days and seven nights. The police demanded to know who was backing his efforts to expose the persecution. He was tortured on the Tiger Bench¹, hung up and beaten, among other forms of brutality. After he was taken back to the detention centre he was forced to maintain the "flying an airplane" position [the limbs are spread open; with hands and feet fixed to a cross-shaped piece of wood]. The guards said he was "stirring up trouble" and sent him to the Sihui Prison in December 2002. He was barbarically tortured at the Strictly Controlled Group and later at the Special Division.

Mr. Lin Yang lived in Fujian Province and was a graduate student at Tsinghua University. He was arrested in Zhuhai City in December 2000 and went on a hunger strike the day of the arrest. In 2001 he was tortured with the "flying an airplane" method at least three times, for a long period each time, at the No. 1 Detention Centre in Zhuhai City. He often did the Falun Gong exercises at the detention centre and refused to cooperate with the guards, even when they yelled at him. Several inmates carried him outside the cell while he stayed in the cross-legged meditation position, and then he was brutally tortured. He was transferred to the Sihui Prison in November 2002. Lin Yang has always remained determined. He was released in June 2004.

Mr. Huang Kui earned a Master's degree from Tsinghua University. He lived in Northeastern China and was arrested in Zhuhai City in December 2000. While being held at the No. 2 Detention Centre in Zhuhai City, he was forced to work at least 16 hours each day. He was forced to make artificial flowers, crack nuts, and string together small light bulbs, among other tasks. He was given only two meals a day. In the winter the skin on his fingers cracked. The work was very difficult, and yet he would receive extra work or be forced to work at night if he didn't finish the assigned work on time. Huang Kui went on a hunger strike several times at a detention centre and was transferred to the Sihui Prison in late 2002 for further persecution. In March 2004, Huang Kui and Zhuang Wenshu (from the same division) held a hunger strike and a work strike. It was the second hunger strike for Zhuang Wenshu. He was sent to a hospital for force-feeding. He was also forced to wear very heavy shackles. The division heads held an assault conference and forced Huang Kui and Zhuang Wenshu to kneel before several hundred people, while the officials shocked them simultaneously with more than ten electric batons. After the meeting, the two practitioners were not allowed to talk to anyone. At the beginning of October 2004, the officials isolated Huang Kui and sent four inmates to watch him around the clock. They recorded his every move. Later, at least eight inmates watched him and forbade him to go downstairs. They locked him in a small room and mistreated him all day long. Beginning in 2005, they deprived him of sleep as much as they could and brainwashed him on a daily basis until he left the prison in December 2005.

Endnote

Since 2004, Shang Dongping has been the new head of Sihui Prison. He sent 610 Office agents to study "tips on reforming Falun Gong practitioners" at Qinghe Prison in Beijing. He also played slanderous videos throughout the prison in March 2004. The prison newspaper was filled with slandering content, and bulletin boards throughout the prison were covered with Dafa-attacking articles. A Special Division was subsequently established to savagely torture practitioners. Shang Dongping held meetings on June 3rd and September 3rd, during which he issued orders that at least one Falun Gong practitioner must be reformed² in each division. He connected this quota to work appraisals and year-end bonuses of all prison employees. As a result, the guards stopped at no evil to persecute Falun Gong practitioners to ensure self-interest and to achieve "reform rate during detention" and "reform rate when leaving prison." At the Special Division, a group of guards would start videotaping Falun Gong practitioners when they first arrived at the prison to "find out their weaknesses." They also ran so-called physical exams including blood tests on the practitioners and injecting what they claimed to be a Tuberculosis Fungus element on the practitioners.

On October 4th, 2004, two inmates attempted to escape from Sihui Prison because they could no longer endure the long-term torture. One inmate was killed through electrocution, and another person was arrested and taken back. This incident aborted the plan to transform Sihui Prison into a "Ministry-Level Modern Prison" within the Guangdong Province Judicial System. A series of nefarious events ensued. Two group heads received sentence extension due to their involvement in disabling inmate(s) through beating. The officials at the Medical Division persecuted Falun Gong practitioners on a hunger strike. Later, guards at the Medical Division were investigated for helping an inmate cheat on medical parole.

Some guards wanted to earn political credits and money through persecuting Falun Gong, but they never expected to receive just the opposite.

Mailing address for the Sihui Prison:

Box 290 Sihui City, Guangdong Province,
Zip code: 526237

Officials responsible for persecution:
Shang Dongping: head of the Sihui Prison
Deputy heads of prison: Luo Zubiao, Ye Changming, He Hailong
Huang Yuequn: political secretary
Ling Liezhou: head of the 610 Office
Members of the 610 Office: Gan Hui, Ye
Zhang Leguang: former head of the Prison Administration Section
Zhang Chunping: guard at the Special Division, CCP head
Qin Jianmin: deputy head of the Special Division
Liu Zhucheng: deputy head of the Special Division

Note

1. "Tiger Bench": Prisoners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead without movement for long periods of time.

2. "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")

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/6/3/129097.html