Exposing the Crimes Committed inside Gansu Province Women's Prison

Gansu Province Women's Prison was established in 2001 and incarcerates over 1000 people. The women inmates were transferred from Pingliang Prison and Lanzhou Prison. Since July 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong, CCP officials have sentenced and imprisoned practitioners in Gansu Women's Prison. Ms. Ma Yun from Lanzhou was the first practitioner imprisoned and persecuted in Gansu Prison. She was held in the 2nd Ward. She defied the prison authorities by refusing to do the forced labour and continuing to practise Falun Gong. She was often handcuffed to a bed frame and forbidden to sleep. Other practitioners were eventually sent to the prison. In the beginning of 2005, to facilitate the persecution, prison officials set up a special section just to "reform¹" all the Dafa practitioners and eventually sent them to the wards for forced labour. Since its inception in 2005 until today, this section has never ceased committing crimes against Dafa practitioners.

Those in charge of this section include head Zhu Hong, deputy head Gan Yumei (about 40 years old), political head Ding Yuping, education section head Zhu Xianzhong, and others such as Meng Xianhui, Cao Meng, Sun Liwei, and a person surnamed Li. The other sections of the women's prison have assisted them in carrying out the persecution of practitioners.

Gansu Women's Prison officials supported a group of criminal inmates who brutally beat and closely monitored practitioners. These criminal inmates include Ren Li, Xian Deying (very evil), Zhang Yujie, Jia Li, Huang Yaqin, Ma Rong, He Juping, Liang Jufang ,and others. Their daily task was to try to force practitioners to write the "four statements²" and the so-called "thought report." If the practitioners refused to cooperate, the other inmates would slander Dafa and ruthlessly abuse practitioners with beatings and curses. They would also spit at them, shock them with electric batons, handcuff and hang them, and deprive them of sleep. Practitioners would also be forced to stand against a wall with their heads down, backs against a wall, and with hands up, or they would be hung upside down.

This special section is in a separate three-story building inside the women's prison. On the first floor are the confinement cells, on the second floor are the prison police offices and cells detaining practitioners, and on the third floor is the in-patient department. There are three confinement cells of about eight square yards. It contains nothing but a built-in, long, narrow, metal bench, about five inches high and five inches wide. The practitioner is forced to sit astride the metal bench, both hands in handcuffs, embracing the bench in a position that does not allow the person to straighten her back. Ms. Zhang Wenjuan from Lanzhou City was tortured the longest. She defied those who tormented her in various ways for three months. Practitioners Ms. Wang Zefang, Ms. Tai Meihua, Ms. Zhou Xiuying, Ms. Zhang Ping, and others all suffered from abuse of this sort to varying degrees.

The women's prison has a total of six wards, three wards in each building. Each ward holds 100 to 200+ inmates, and some up to 300 inmates. Each cell holds about two-dozen inmates. Approximately seven practitioners are in each of the wards. At present there are about 50 practitioners in the prison. Each practitioner is monitored by several criminal inmates, even when she goes to the toilet, eats, or sleeps. Whoever she talks to and what she says must be reported to the prison guards; the mental pressure is devastating.

In the beginning of 2005, when the special section had just been established, the practitioners in all six wards were abused. Official personnel isolated the practitioners in each of the wards and locked them separately in the dark cells (about 10 square metres). These dark cells were located on each floor. The windows and doors of the dark cells are covered and sealed with paper and black fabric. The heating radiators are wrapped with black fabric and plastic foam. Some of the cells had a bed and blankets, but others cells had nothing except a bed board on the floor. Each of the cells has two to three prison guards and four criminal inmates assisting the guards. They take turns reading slanderous books that the practitioners must listen to and force them to watch slanderous VCDs for many hours daily. They even forbid the practitioner from drinking water, sleeping, or using the toilet for several hours. Practitioners in these cells cannot wash their face, hair or feet. This abuse usually last over 40 days. A prison guard named Liu Ying has told the criminal inmates, "I don't care about what tactics you use to make the practitioners compromise. I only want results."

The practitioners are required to do high-intensity labour for long stretches of time daily. Every inmate has a 6,000 yuan³ production quota each month. The quota for each ward amounts to over one million yuan. The prison guards will try anything to get money for themselves and don't care whether the inmates live or die. They even refuse the inmates any access to a doctor when they are sick. The factory is located in a five-story building. On the fifth floor they embroider Hui nationality style hats. These hats are exported to Mecca. On the third and fourth floors they make clothing for the Lanzhou 3512 Factory. Many inmates have eye infections and are not treated. On the second floor they make rugs; the working conditions are really bad. Many inmates have caught tuberculosis. The inmates work from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. with a mere half hour break midway through for eating. People who eat slowly have to stop eating and return to work before they finish their food.

The practitioners imprisoned in the 1st Ward have included Wang Ailan, Yang Xiuqin, Yin Xiaolan, Shu Jinxiu, Ma Yuling, Kong Jie (Lanzhou Normal University professor), and He Xuehua (who was tortured to death). Practitioners who defy the guards and don't write "the four statements" and the so-called "thought report" are deprived of sleep. A load of garlic once arrived from the 6th Ward and the practitioners had to peel it. The skin on their hands peeled off, seeping runny, bloody fluid. In July 2003 guards found that Shu Jinxiu had hand-copied a Falun Gong article. They hung her by her handcuffs from a door frame for seven days. The prison guards responsible were Wang Wenhui, the head guard of the ward; Yang Ailan, political head; and Chen Xiaotong, Liu Yuanyuan, and other guards.

The practitioners in the 2nd Ward have included Wu Xiaojing, Li Minna, Tang Qiong, Tian Juhong, Wang Anlin, Fu Guiqin, and Zhao Fenglian (who died of persecution). Guards are still trying to get Ms. Tang Qiong to write the so-called "thought report." The "thought reports" are examined by officials in the prison's special section and by agents from the 610 Office⁴ of the city police department. The practitioner has to keep redoing the report if the report is not to their satisfaction. In July 2004, Ms. Tang was beaten by guard Liu Ying and locked in the confinement cell several times. Under the extreme torture, Tan Qiong injured herself to protest the persecution and was sent to the labour camp's hospital in Lanzhou. Guard Ding Yuping of the special section was responsible for persecuting practitioners in the 2nd Ward. Other prison guards have included Liu Ying (political head, the most evil), Gu Hongying (division head), Zhang Lirong (team head), Zhu Hong, Lan Haiqing, Wei Xuemei, and Lu Chunmei.

The practitioners detained in the 3rd Ward are six or seven in all. They have suffered the most serious persecution. From 2001 to the end of 2006 they were in the prison yard making nets used for loading cargo onto trains and trucks. No matter how scorching the sun was in summer or how heavy the snow was in winter, these practitioners, as well as the inmates of the 3rd Ward, were forced to work without stopping. In the summer, every one of them had a sunburn and in winter they had frostbite on their face, hands and feet. Jiao Lili defied her captors and was frequently beaten and locked in the confinement cells. The prison guards included Ma Hongmei (political head), Ma Meiying, Hou Pei, and Shan Shuli.

The practitioners in the 4th Ward have included Zhang Zhenmin, Chen Jie, Zhou Xiuying, Wang Yuhong, Liu Lanying, He Biying, and others. In July 2004, for erasing blackboard articles that slandered Dafa, prison guards savagely beat Zhang Zhenmin. Ms. Zhang's cries could be heard in all the wards. She was then locked up and hung by her handcuffs while wearing a torture instrument in the washroom of the ward. She was tortured for eight days.

In March 2007, prison personnel had Ms. Zhang Zhenmin's husband brought to the women's prison. Practitioner Mr. Niu Wanjiang had been imprisoned in Lanzhou Prison. He was then taken to Lanzhou Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre. With so-called "education with help," they tried to force the practitioner couple to yield. The prison guards involved in this included Wen Yaqin (the head guard of the ward), a person with the last name Zhang (former political head), Hou Junhong (political head), Yang Xiaofang, An Dongbing, and a person with the last name of Xue.

In the newly arrived team, practitioner Zong Jingxia was abused by means of sleep deprivation. Those in charge have not yet sent her to a ward and are keeping her in the team for new arrivals to help organise entertainment activities. The circumstances surrounding her are not good.

Yang Qingru from the special section is a former practitioner who deviated from Dafa due to persecution. She let herself be "reformed" at the beginning of 2004. She has cooperated to persecute practitioners and written articles on blackboards to slander Dafa. She has aided and abetted the evildoers. She was working in the 2nd Ward between 2004 and 2006.

At one time Wang Zhijun helped Yuan Jiang, who was eventually tortured to death. Wang was sentenced to five years of imprisonment for offering this assistance. Wang Zhijun then wrote the so-called "authentication material" on behalf of the guards of the women's prison, claiming that Yuan Jiang was not persecuted, seeking to excuse the CCP from responsibility for persecuting Yuan Jiang. She played a very bad role in the persecution.

There are many practitioners still being persecuted in this prison. Their names and circumstances are unclear.

Back to a previous era, on the afternoon of July 14th, 2003, six practitioners were sent to the prison: He Xuehua, Ma Yuling, and Guo Wenying (Lanzhou) were among them. The personnel stripped their clothes off and had them naked for a body search, searching for dangerous and banned things as well as monetary items. The methods used were extremely base and despicable. In the process the officials found some Dafa books, and the practitioners shouted, "Falun Dafa is Good!" to safeguard Dafa. They were beaten and hung in the washroom on the first floor of the new arrivals' team. They were tortured with electric batons and had their mouths taped shut with wide transparent tape. Those involved included prison guards Xu Shaowen (political head), Hua Xin, Lai Yidan, and Zhang Meilan, as well as criminal inmate Xian Deying. Prison guards from the Security Section, the Prison Administration Section, the Education Section and several other sections also took part. The practitioners were sent to different wards or confinement cells that same day. He Xuehua was sent to the 1st Ward and Guo Wenying was sent to the 2nd Ward. The other practitioners' fate is unknown.

He Xuehua and Guo Wenying were tortured the most. On the morning of July 17th, 2003, after they were sent to the wards, the chief of the prison, Duan Shengcheng (male, about 60 years old), led five prison guards, including Liu and Dong to each of the wards to beat practitioners ruthlessly. They smashed Guo Wenying's head against a wall and beat He Xuehua to death. On July 20th chief Duan Shengcheng personally organised a meeting to slander Falun Gong and openly slandered practitioner He Xuehua in the meeting, saying that Ms. He, to avoid being "reformed", had committed suicide out of fear of punishment. He also said outright that they would not be afraid if more people died. He said that the confinement cells were "heaven" and since "heaven" had been built, all practitioners would be locked in the cells if they would not "reform." The prison has continued to persecute practitioners till today. Practitioner Zhang Ping was locked in the confinement cells as soon as she arrived at the prison and has suffered inhuman treatment since the end of 2006.

After Guo Wenying was sent to Ward 2, Gu Hongying (team head) and Liu Ying (political head) assigned four criminal inmates to closely monitor her and force her to read slanderous material for as long as four months. Ms. Guo refused to take a political test and was locked in the confinement cell for as long as three months. She was later transferred to the 6th Ward and was again locked in the confinement cell for defying orders. After 2005 she was transferred to the 5th Ward and was again locked in the confinement cell for more than three months because she refused to write the "four statements" and a "thought report." She was locked in the cell until she was on the verge of death.

In August 2005, a touring speaker, Chen Bin (from Shaanxi Province), arrived. He led over 30 people, including the most vile police officers and people from the Political and Judiciary Committee. Each of them wore a small red badge. They toured all over different areas, visiting prisons to introduce their diabolical experiences of persecuting Dafa practitioners. They slandered Dafa in Gansu Prison. The practitioners defended Dafa and questioned these people, who could not answer their questions. The prison guards then locked the practitioners into the confinement cells and strictly monitored them. Since then the prison has built dark rooms and kept them secret from others. The prison authorities do their evil things behind the scenes.

Gansu Women's Prison not only brutally persecutes practitioners, it also persecutes other inmates with various tactics. In 2003 the inmates were forced to do intense labour from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. and then before dawn they had to do rehearsal dances until two to three o'clock in the morning; all this for a performance report. Their miserable suffering was beyond description. The prison also forces the inmates to write fabricated articles to praise the CCP and sends the articles to the "Gansu Jiaozhi Bao (Gansu Correction Administration Report)."

The work-load is especially heavy for the inmates [non practitioners] in the 6th Ward, beyond what an average person can take. Their suffering is indescribable. They feel that living is worse than death. The high intensity, overload, and overtime slave labour has caused the deaths of three inmates between 2003 and January 2007. Two of them committed suicide by hanging themselves in the bathrooms, and one jumped from an upper story of the building. The one that jumped was Zang Peihuan (Tianshui). She had served 12 years of her sentence and did not have too much time left. Because she could not bear the guards' persecution in the 6th Ward anymore, she jumped from an upper story of the building in July 2004, committing suicide. The two who hung themselves were inmates from the 6th Ward. One was Zhang Lianlian from Wushan and another was from Baiyin. They committed suicide because the work-load was too heavy, they could not finish their quotas, and because of the savage beatings from the guards with electric batons.

Note

1. "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")

2. "Four Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write the "four statements" as proof that they have given up their belief. Created by the 610 Office, they consist of "a letter of repentance," "a guarantee" to never again practise Falun Gong, a "Dissociation Statement" to declare a dissociation with Falun Gong and promise not go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and a list of names and addresses of all family members, friends and acquaintances who are practitioners.

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

4. "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.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/4/14/152758.html