The Evil Behind the "Civilisation" at the Guangdong Women's Prison

The Guangdong Women's Prison is alleged to be the most "civilised and advanced" women's prison under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice of China, but this prison is the epitome of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which was born of lies.

At the prison, the Fourth Division takes the lead in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. Every practitioner that is sent to the prison is initially placed in the Fourth Division. The 610 Office¹ and Division Chief Yi Lihong lead a modern day Gestapo to torture practitioners. They induce, encourage and allow criminal inmates to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. They have adopted the following methods of persecution and torture: deceit, threats, brainwashing, starvation, forcing practitioners to stand, sit or squat motionless for long periods of time, monitoring practitioners twenty-four hours a day, sleep deprivation, electric shocks, denying or limiting toilet usage, not allowing practitioners to buy daily necessities including sanitary napkins, not allowing practitioners to shower, and forcing practitioners to give up their beliefs until they are "transformed²." Many practitioners were tortured so severely that they fell into bad health were forced to tell lies. Some of them have developed mental problems, and some have been left in critical condition.

Many steadfast practitioners have been continuously attacked, abused, threatened and denounced day and night. The guards and criminals use indecent language to attack the founder of Falun Gong and practitioners.

On the surface, the women's prison looks like an orderly and modern school. "Humanitarian management" is an often-used slogan, but it hasn't changed the practitioners' situation for the better at all. When there are visitors, all the prison personnel get very nervous and the food is suddenly much better, but Falun Gong practitioners under "strict management" are monitored even more strictly. They aren't allowed to leave their cells. Sometimes they are hidden in the workshop. Those practitioners who have not been "reformed" are not allowed to participate in outdoor exercises on holidays.

There is a special cell on each of the four floors of the Fourth Division with a sign reading "conversation room." The so-called conversation rooms are dark. They are used to confine practitioners in solitary cells and brainwash them. The 610 Office has televisions in the conversation rooms on the second, third and fourth floors. There are many slanderous cartoons and images on the windows, doors and walls in the rooms.

Many practitioners are inhumanly tortured in the conversation rooms. Ye Xiaojie, Xie Kunxiang and Yang Xiaolan were tortured so severely that they were driven to insanity. Cries, curses, the sounds of beatings, and the knocking down of tables and stools are often heard coming from these rooms. Practitioners have all been isolated in these rooms and tortured separately, and they've been deprived of sleep for long periods of time.

Zhuhai City practitioner Zeng Qing wrote a letter to expose the torture and persecution suffered by Fourth Division practitioners, but correction officers colluded with inmates and fabricated false evidence to frame Zeng Qing, and were thereby able to foil the procurators' subsequent investigation. The officers and inmates took revenge on Zeng Qing and tortured her even more severely.

Prison officials often speak about humanitarian management, and organise holiday performances. These special performances are most deceptive. They force Falun Dafa practitioners to learn other forms of qigong or dances. The officials do this in an attempt to cover up the true nature of the forced brainwashing. Most of the "reformed" practitioners relapse into sickness and are left in a very bad state.

In order to cover up the condition of the "reformed" practitioners, 610 Office personnel often secretly give them extra food and other inconsequential comforts, like rented DVDs or extra time to exercise outdoors, walk or play basketball. When other hard labour inmates see this they say, "Look how well these Falun Gong practitioners are treated! We've been here for a long time and we've never enjoyed such good treatment!" Those prisoners are in the workshops all day long; they have no idea that the Falun Gong practitioners are secretly tortured. How could they know that the reason the officers act this way is to fool the practitioners and keep them off guard in order to "transform" them?

The officials use all these tricks to deceive the outside world. They want to destroy the practitioners' wills and completely brainwash them. They put practitioners in a miserable state that they consider worse than death. Their purpose is to create fear so that they can prolong their tyranny.

In the Fourth Division, there is a rule that anyone can bully and torture practitioners at will. The criminals who monitor practitioners often purposely find fault with them. They torture practitioners to vent to their bad feelings. Every practitioner has suffered attacks and humiliation.

Practitioners are persecuted in every way imaginable, even withheld access to the toilet. Those who are given the task of monitoring practitioners enjoy many privileges. For example, they don't have to go to the cafeteria for meals. They get to eat early. They are also allowed hot water for showers and they get to wash their clothes before everyone else. They don't have to work and they can sleep in their beds whenever they want. They get food that can't be found in prison, and they aren't punished for violating regulations. They even get their sentences reduced. That's why these criminals will do anything for the authorities. They beat and starve practitioners. They monitor practitioners twenty-four hours a day and record their words and actions. They routinely make false reports and frame practitioners, provoking even harsher treatment from the authorities. They enjoy the practitioners' suffering. They often say, "We have far too many ways to deal with people like you. It's too easy to torture you to death. If you won't listen to us, see what we can do? We'll write the central government and ask them to shoot you. Shooting is too good for you. Just watch us torture you to death." The officers enjoy watching the prisoners persecute the practitioners.

The inmates monitor everything the practitioners do, and they are allowed to decide what practitioners can or can't do. They can even decide whether practitioners can use the toilet or drink water. They forbid everyone to speak to practitioners or show sympathy. Anyone who supports practitioners is reported and punished.

610 Office personnel and inmates do everything they can to force practitioners to write the Three Statements"³ and they endlessly revise the statements. They tell practitioners to write their "reform statement" as lengthy and as detailed as possible, and require them to write more than ten pages. They also require practitioners to use plain language to write their statements so they'll sound natural and believable. When they teach others to tell lies, they ask them to pay special attention to the details. They say the more detailed the better; details can move people's hearts and remove any doubts, especially when the supervisors try to ascertain whether the practitioners have been truly "reformed" or not. If the practitioners' statements don't meet their standards, they threaten them and force them to study and be brainwashed all over again, until their statements are up to the standard. They force practitioners to sing songs that praise the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They even force the "reformed" Falun Gong practitioners to smile. Otherwise, the supervisors will think that they haven't really been "reformed." If they fail to comply in some way, the practitioners are forced to return to the conversation rooms. Head Warden Zhang Zhiping, Director Liu, and Director Zheng of the 610 Office interview and test each of those who has finished writing the statements. The content of those conversations are more slander against Falun Gong. Once they're satisfied that a practitioner has met the standard, they send her to one of the other divisions to finish the "Three Statements." They also force the "reformed" practitioners to publicly denounce Falun Gong in front of all the inmates. The process is filmed and recorded. Then they force the "reformed" ones to participate in an intensive two-month "study session." The study session is another type of severe psychological persecution. The schedule is arranged so tightly that practitioners have no chance to exchange looks or messages on paper slips. They make sure that the "reformed" practitioners don't start practising again. After the session is over, they force practitioners to give performances portraying "the wonder of reform." Only at this stage do they announce that the "reform" is fully completed.

At the end of each month, all the inmates are infused with "loving the Party" propaganda. They are forced to study a textbook produced at the prison that slanders Falun Gong. There is also a test at the end of each month. The inmates spend a lot of time memorising the answers. If they fail to pass each test, they can't apply for sentence reductions. Anyone who fails the test is punished with extended work hours or making dozens of hand-written copies of the book.

The persecution suffered by Falun Gong practitioners at the Guangdong Women's Prison is beyond description. Practitioners are strictly monitored. They are segregated and placed in solitary confinement. Other inmates are allowed to speak freely with each other, while Falun Gong practitioners aren't allowed to see or talk to each other. The corrections officers and prison inmates often purposely find fault with practitioners so that they can extend practitioners' sentences. The officers' words and actions are extremely vicious.

None of the practitioners detained at the Guangdong Women's Prison have willingly complied with efforts to "reform" them. Each of the "Three Statements" they've written were given due to extreme pressure and torture, and each one is covered in blood. The officers known that this so-called "reform" doesn't represent the practitioners' true hearts, but they still use deceitful methods in dealing with practitioners. As soon as they feel that they can't achieve their goal, they immediately change tactics, and utilise violence and torture to achieve their goals.

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")

3. "Three Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write "Repentance Statement," "Guarantee Statement" or 'Dissociation Statement" as proof that they have given up their belief. In the statement, the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practising Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/2/12/148778.html