Jinan Women's Prison in Shandong Province Is a Hell on Earth

After witnessing how Falun Gong practitioners detained at Jinan Women's Prison in Shandong Province suffer, it can be said that the Jinan Women's Prison is a hell on earth.

The Jinan Women's Prison authorities capitalise on the hard labour that Falun Gong practitioners are forced to do, while at the same time practitioners are tortured for their belief in "Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance." The work conditions and environment at the prison are very poor. Practitioners are forced to get up at 6:00 a.m. and begin work at 7:00 a.m. Although the prison says that practitioners only work until 10:00 p.m., in actuality, they are not allowed to stop working until as late as 2:00 a.m. If they do not finish the assigned quota, the prison guards then force practitioners to bring their work back to their cells and don't let them sleep until they are done. Thus, practitioners have to work sixteen to eighteen hour shifts many days. During prison inspection by higher authorities, the interviewed detainees are forced to say that they finish work at 8:00 p.m., or face repercussions later by the guards.

The guards allow practitioners to drink only three cups of water per day, once in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Furthermore, practitioners are only allowed to use the toilet at assigned times. As a result, some practitioners became sick due to not being able to use the toilet when needed. Practitioners are also not allowed to talk to each other, and they are not allowed to eat or sleep if they cannot finish their quota. If someone fails to finish their quota, the whole group is punished by being forced to stand for a long period of time.

In July and August, it gets very hot and humid in Jinan. The practitioners are locked in the basement to work, with no vents to circulate air. One time, the guards locked all the practitioners in the basement for eight continuous days and nights and forced them to work without taking any breaks or letting them go back to their cells to sleep. Sweat soaked the practitioners' clothes repeatedly. Many of them passed out due to the heat, but they had to continue working after they woke up. No one was allowed to get any rest. Even if someone got sick with a fever of 102o F and had a notice from the prison doctor suggesting rest, the guards would still force her to continue working. The practitioners have to work all year round with only one exception, which is the Chinese New Year. For all the other national holidays, the guards force practitioners to work in their cells packing toys, folding paper packages, making paper moon-cake boxes, etc.

Among all the divisions in the prison, the fourth division, also known as the "demon division," is the most notorious. Almost every day, practitioners have to work eighteen to twenty hours when they work in the basement. Practitioners work until around 3:00 a.m. and are not allowed to eat anything after dinner. If practitioners bring some food, the guards will immediately take it away. The guards try to make practitioners do two days of work in one day. Their only purpose is to make more money. It is said that each guard gets about 10,000 - 15,000 yuan¹ of bonus every month.

When it is time to eat, practitioners are forced to eat outside, no matter the weather condition. It could be the hottest days in summer, the coldest days in winter or when it is snowing heavily or pouring rain. During the winter time, practitioners never get to eat a warm meal.

As if it is not torturous enough that the guards beat and kick practitioners or shock them with electric batons, they also instigate other inmates to beat practitioners. During a meeting of team leaders of detainees, the prison guards even told the other inmates to beat or swear at practitioners whenever they think it is necessary, without fear of punishment. Thus, they frequently beat practitioners. Because guards directly instigate detainees to be violent, many detainees became worse during their detention and totally lost their humanity and conscience.

Practitioners are monitored by other detainees and cannot communicate with each other. Even if they just look at each other, they will be reprimanded. Prison guards Du Juan and Xu Yumei don't allow practitioners to call family members, and confiscate their mail in an attempt to block their connection with their families. They shorten other inmates' terms and allow them to leave early on probation, but this is not allowed for practitioners.

To try to end the persecution, practitioners wrote letters to the higher authorities exposing the evil deeds of the guards, appealing for the right to practise Falun Gong, and requesting a reduction in their work time with the right to have a break on Sundays. As a result, the guards locked the practitioners in the confinement room or took them to the brainwashing unit for further torture. For some practitioners who refused to work on Sunday, guard Xu Yuling denied them access to water for drinking and washing. Guards Xu Yumei, Wang Min, and others utilised the family visiting opportunities to lie to the family members about Falun Gong and the practitioner in order to create misunderstandings. As a result, many family members sided with the guards and put pressure on their loved ones after hearing the lies and threats from the guards. Thus, persecuting practitioners is also persecuting their family members.

The brainwashing unit (the so-called "the intensive training unit") uses all means to mentally torture practitioners for the purpose of "transforming" them. The guards employ several extremely ruthless people, including You Yufang, Yu Yuanmei, Qiao Ruimei, Du Fang, Kong Yumei, etc, to persecute practitioners. They deprive practitioners of sleep, force them to stand for long periods of time, beat and kick them, and grab them by the hair and bang their heads against the wall. Some practitioners tried to escape the beatings by hiding under the bed or hitting themselves with the blade of a heating device. One often hears someone yelling, "They are beating me!" from the brainwashing unit or the confinement room.

They also don't let practitioners use the toilet. Sometimes, they do not even allow practitioners to use toilet paper or pads when they have their menstrual period. Even worse, they humiliate practitioners by forcing them to stand in the hallway naked.

Although they live in such a dreadful place, most practitioners are steadfast and believe in Falun Dafa and Teacher. From time to time, you can hear practitioners in the confinement room or the brainwashing unit say, "Falun Dafa is good!" and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!"

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/7/1/131907.html