"Reform" Through Violence at the Jilin Province Women's Prison (Illustration)

The 610 Office¹ established by the Chinese Communist Party and Jiang Zemin brutally persecutes Falun Gong, while claiming the use of "reform and education" that resemble "a summer breeze and spring rain." The "610 Office" is attempting to cover up its inhuman tortures through propaganda. Many of these tortures are carried out at the Jilin Province Women's Prison, also called the Heizuizi Women's Prison.

The Women's Prison of Jilin Province is divided into two divisions: the Production Division and the Education Division.

Dafa practitioners are first sent to the Production Division, where they are forced to do slave labour while also being subjected to "reform²" and brainwashing in an atmosphere of terror. Dafa practitioners who refuse to give in at the Production Division are sent to the so-called Education Division, where savage tortures are carried out. The majority of persecution incidents of Falun Gong practitioners take place in the "Education Division." Normal inmates undergoing "reeducation through labour" and Dafa practitioners are held on the third and fourth floors. The most recently arrived Dafa practitioners are sent to the fourth floor. The guards and inmates would threaten and observe Dafa practitioners for about ten days. Those who give up Dafa are kept on the fourth floor, while determined practitioners are sent to the third floor, where they are tortured with the "Big Hang-up" torture. "Going downstairs" is a dreaded phrase at this labour camp.

Dafa practitioner Guan Peixia is in her 50s. She was sentenced to six years in prison and savagely tortured at this prison. The officials ordered her force-feeding on October 20th, 2006. She was taken to the third floor on November 14th, and even more barbaric methods were used on her.

The following is a brief description of the main torture methods used at this prison.

1. Brainwashing

Around-the-clock brainwashing starts as soon as a practitioner incarcerated into the prison. The authorities force practitioners to read and study books and watch VCDs that slander Dafa. Afterwards, the practitioners are coerced to write reports and diaries that regurgitate what they saw and read. They also force the practitioners to study a Taiwanese Buddhist's lectures and write reports on their study. They play what they claim to be videos on Buddhism and Taoism and compare them to Falun Gong. They force the practitioners to watch these videos, discuss them and write reports about them. They require the practitioners to attack Falun Gong and its founder Mr. Li Hongzhi in their reports, otherwise the practitioners will be told they "didn't study well," and extended study sessions go late into the night, until the authorities achieve their goal.

The officials also force practitioners to verbally attack Falun Gong and Mr. Li Hongzhi, and only the most vicious and vulgar words are considered "passing." Practitioners who don't pass are subjected to further prolonged brainwashing.

They assign two or three inmates, as well as former practitioners that turned against Dafa, to follow determined practitioners 24 hours a day, calling it lending a hand with "help and education." Insults and verbal abuse are frequently heaped upon determined practitioners.

2. The Big Hang-up

For steadfast practitioners, the guards order inmates to torture them with a method called "the Big Hang-up" while also brainwashing the practitioners. The practitioner's hands and feet are tied to four poles of a double-bunk bed, making the practitioner hang in the air in a U shape, between the upper and lower bunk, and her body weight rests completely on her wrists and ankles. Her buttocks don't reach the lower bunk, and her hands and feet cannot reach the upper bunk. She is only untied for eating. Many practitioners can barely hold a spoon after the blood circulation to their hands are cut off for so long. They are tortured this way day and night. The practitioner relieves herself while being tied up, and assigned personnel pull down the practitioner's trousers and catch her urine and faeces in a large bowl.

Practitioners who were tortured this way said, "I felt my skin and tendons were stretched to the limit," "my hands and feet turned black;" "I had no strength for several months or longer afterwards." The prison doctor diagnosed these practitioners as suffering from "injured tendons from over-stretching."

Practitioner Wang Liping from Changchun City was hung for one month, the longest among practitioners held at this prison. Practitioner Sun Lihong was tied most tightly. The officials also stripped her naked and put heavy quilts on her to add to the pain. Sun Lihong, who was once healthy, was tortured until she was emaciated and her cheekbones jutted out. Practitioner Song Weixiang was incarcerated for several years. She went into convulsions and lost consciousness several times in the winter when she was tortured with the Big Hang-up, but the authorities ignored her condition. She said some things against her conscience on the fifth day, when she could no longer endure the pain, but she was still hung up until the eighth day. Practitioner Li Juan used to be a diabetic and screamed in pain when she was put to this torture. Diao Shuanyun took a dirty towel from the toilet and gagged Li Juan with it.

3. Secret drug poisoning

According to some inmates, practitioner Ban Huijuan, around 40 years old, was given unknown drugs mixed into her food when she persisted in her belief. She felt acutely drowsy after ingesting the drugs. The inmates talked about it among themselves and stopped giving her drugs because they were afraid of killing her. Even after the drug was stopped, Ban Huijuan was still left with blunted reactions and impaired speech, and developed signs of paranoia.

4. "Reformed" practitioners forced to persecute determined Dafa practitioners

The main "reform work" prison authorities assign to former practitioners who turned against Dafa is to persecute the still steadfast practitioners, as they want to further destroy the determination of practitioners who were unwilling to renounce Dafa. After giving up their belief, these former practitioners had over time developed twisted mentalities and abnormal behaviour, which reflect the cruelty of the persecution.

The guards take advantage of these practitioners' weaknesses and force them to persecute other practitioners, forming a vicious cycle. Both verbal and physical forms of persecution are administered. Family and friends of these former practitioners are often shocked by the drastic change in their demeanours.

Xiang Xiaomin, a former practitioner, persecuted practitioner Sun Lihong, a 42-year-old woman from Jiaohe. Sun Lihong firmly refused to give in. Xiang Xiaomin resented her because she couldn't complete her "assignment." She went to Chen Yanmei, another former practitioner, and said, "Go downstairs and avenge me." Four people shoved Sun Lihong down the stairs. Twenty minutes later, Chen Yanmei emerged and told Xiang Xiaomin, "You have your revenge." Sun Lihong was black and blue from being pinched all over by Chen Yanmei, Lu Xiuqin, and inmates Zhang Wenjie and Wang Lixin.

5. Inmates forced to persecute Falun Gong practitioners

The only task given to inmates is to abuse and brainwash Falun Gong practitioners. They watch the practitioners' every move. Several inmates coerce one practitioner to study Dafa-slandering materials in an attempt to turn her against Dafa. They are required to record information, including the frequency and exact times a Dafa practitioner uses the toilet each day; the people she talked to, including when and where; her "psychological tendencies" and the amount of food she eats a day. Inmates who give more detailed reports on Dafa practitioners would have a better chance at receiving sentence reductions. The inmates are the mouthpieces and thugs who follow Party officials' orders and directly persecute Dafa practitioners. No guard would openly declare that the Big Hang-up was going to be used on a practitioner, but the guards would secretly arrange for inmates to carry it out.

6. Fake kindness and shameless deception

The guards always put on a gentle and kind façade when Dafa practitioners' family members arrive. They would say, "We never touched a hair on her head." Cao Hong, a woman around 40 years old and 1.6 m [5.24 ft] in height, is the head of the Education Division. She has a pale and long face and has a thin build. She is nearsighted and sometimes wears glasses. She said, "Brutal torture is an indispensable component of "reform," similar to the pain that inevitably results from surgery."

The prison authorities claim that they are doing it for the practitioners' own good when using the Big Hang-up on them; that they don't want "accidents" to happen to the practitioners and that they are "concerned about [the practitioners'] personal safety." They tell the public that practitioners who were reformed "thank the Party and government for their compassionate salvation."

Some officials at the Jilin Province Women's Prison:

Wu Zeyun: prison head, around 45 years old, around 1.58 m [5'8''] tall, dark skin, medium stature. She once announced the prison would reform 1000f the Dafa practitioners held here. She often gives prison tours to provincial "610 Office" agents, prison and labour camp authorities from all over the country. They exchange persecution experiences and "tips."

Cao Hong: Education Division head, around 40 years old, is personally responsible for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners at the Education Division.
Zhao Mouxia: Education Division deputy head. She is around 40 years old with a pale, square face and medium stature.
Ni Xiaohong: Education Division group head. She is in her 30s and has a round face.
Jilin Province Women's Prison, Mail Box 1048, Zip code: 130000

Xu Guangsheng: prison head, 86-431-5375001 (office), 86-431-2725199 (home), 86-13704362518 (mobile)
Gao Mingya: deputy prison head, 86-431-5375003 (office), 86-13604425882 (mobile)

Note

1. "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.

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://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/11/22/142970.html