Exposing the Torture of Practitioners in Hunan Province Women's Prison

I have been detained in Hunan Province Women's Prison due to my belief in Falun Dafa. I am exposing the cruel torture that Falun Dafa practitioners have endured by sharing my own personal experience.

Of the people detained in the the Education/Reform Team, fifty per cent are Falun Dafa practitioners. Every practitioner is closely monitored, even when using the toilet. Practitioners are not allowed to talk or whisper to each other, and are absolutely not allowed any communication about safe-guarding Falun Dafa. If they communicate, they are brutally beaten by the guards. Sometimes, several prisoners and guards beat a practitioner and swear at her, but none of them will admit to it afterwards.

The prison administration tries to increase the forced labour with all sorts of excuses. Also, some practitioners are locked in solitary confinement for reading Teacher Li's [Teacher Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa] new scriptures, or doing the exercises, and their hands are cuffed behind their backs, with one arm over the shoulder. Sometimes their feet and hands are cuffed together. Guards with electric batons shock practitioners, or hang them from their handcuffed wrists, only allowing the tips of their toes to touch the floor. The solitary confinement cell is very small, and practitioners must eat, drink and go to the toilet in the cell. In the summer there are many mosquitoes, and in the winter the cell is freezing cold, and practitioners have to sleep on the cement floor.

There is a strict monitoring team which is especially used to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners. The torture methods they use include sitting on a one-legged small stool, shocking practitioners with electric batons, and subjecting them to the hot summer sun of 104oF, which in turn causes eyesight damage. Some practitioners lose one pound per day due to the torture.

The guards often increase the amount of forced labour, depriving practitioners of their right to have visitation or to buy necessities once a month. Guards also withhold practitioners' receipt of mail that contains cash, or packages from their families. Each cell is 300 square feet and houses 10-14 people. This is where they eat, sleep and do labour, and they are not allowed out. The hot water container (running water is not suitable to drink in China) and buckets are put in the hallway. If practitioners go and get water or buckets, they must enter the room quickly, otherwise the monitoring group will swear at them. When they were forced to labour peeling fava beans, the beans were soaking everywhere and the smell was very bad, and made the cell very wet. Even the duvets were soaking wet. When they made dolls in the summer, the synthetic dust floated everywhere in the air.

The Education/Reform Team's head was Li Chunhui (gender unknown), who left the team in 2006, when the team was divided into two groups. Although practitioners are still being locked in small cells¹, the strict monitoring of the team and the forced labour has been reduced, but guards are still torturing Falun Dafa practitioners. The Hunan Province Women's Prison deputy head is Zhao Lan (female).

Note

1. Small cell - The detainee is locked up in a very small cell individually. The guards handcuff practitioners hands behind their back in a fixed position, in which the practitioners can neither move nor lie down. The small cell is very damp and no sunshine comes in. Detainees have to urinate and defecate in the cell. Only half of a regular meal is served to detainees locked up in a small cell during the daytime. During the night, rats run about. The stench in the small cell is so bad that it is difficult to breathe.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/10/2/139196.html