The Darkness and Ugliness of Hebei Province Women's Prison

Hebei Province Women's Prison is afraid of the public knowing the true situation inside the prison, so it repeatedly concocts things. Every time inspectors come, they lock up the Falun Gong practitioners, who can speak the truth, and other people whom they do not trust, rather than sending them to the workshop to do forced labour, because they fear the prison's brutal acts will be exposed. This prison boasts to the outside world about its humane administration and good living conditions--both outright lies.

For example, the prison claims that inmates work eight hours a day and rest on weekends. The truth is that every morning prisoners head to work at 7:00 a.m., they arrive at the workshop at 7:30 a.m. and immediately start working until noon. They have a half-hour lunch break and then go back to work. Dinner break is also half an hour, with no other rest in between. Prisoners then work until 8:30 p.m., and it is after 9:00 p.m. before they can return to their prison cells. There is also frequent counting and body-searching before they can go back to the cells to rest. The prison says no labour is performed on weekends. In fact there is no rest on weekends. Additionally, almost every month there is a week where prisoners have to work until midnight. This is high intensity slave labour.

Practitioners new to the prison are separated them from other prisoners. The prison made a special group in the No. 1 teaching building to attempt to "transform¹" these practitioners. If they won't write the so-called four statements², the practitioners are not allowed to go outside, not allowed to get water or food by themselves, and not allowed to see other people. In the beginning the prison presents a nice side to deceive you. But then, if you do not conform, the prison reveals its true, evil face. It uses forceful means such as sleep deprivation and fills you with evil lies. A practitioner in her sixties was deprived of sleep for seven days straight. Suffering inhuman torture that she could not bear, she was forced to write the four statements. Later she exposed all of this, told others why she practised and the torture she had suffered, and wrote letters many times to the head of the prison. Many practitioners who made such mistakes have mentioned these things. Steadfast practitioners were imprisoned inside the teaching buildings.

Recently, Wang Bo and her mother were sent to this prison. During a forced body search, they resisted and were held down by several people during the search. They were then sent to a "transformation" class. It is said the the "transformation" class always shows the video of Wang Bo's so-called "transformation." Wang Bo's arrival has obviously exposed that evil lie.

Besides Falun Gong practitioners, the prison also incarcerates other people unjustly, for example Guo Yumei of the No. 4 Ward. Her family's farmland was usurped by a village official. She and her mother tried to appeal and sue for a long time but could not resolve the matter. In March 2007 Guo Yumei and her mother were tricked into Hebei Province Women's Prison without any legal procedures being followed. Officials lied, saying her mother needed to see certain doctors. Because Guo Yumei thought this was unjust, she did not plead guilty. The authorities immediately sent her to a guarded chamber. She was held there for two months, then was assigned to Ward No. 4. Her mother was assigned to Ward No. 9.

Guo Yumei held a hunger strike to protest and looked for officials to help her, but her case could not be resolved. She could not find a way to meet with the head of the prison, so she had to call for help on the way to the forced labour workshop. As a result she was beaten in front of the other prisoners by the vicious police chief, Li Xiujuan. Li slapped her in the face, cursed, and sent her again to a guarded chamber. The police were afraid of her shouting, so they stuffed her mouth with towels and toilet paper so she couldn't talk. Once when the upper level inspectors came, the police found several people to stuff her mouth and hold her down so she could not move. Ms. Guo turned red and almost suffocated. Every day No. 4 Ward guards sent her to the hospital for force-feeding. Her mother had health issues and was also force-fed in the hospital, her life in grave danger. Basically Guo Yumei's case is a civil matter, not in the realm of criminal law. The police break the law even though they know the law. What crimes they are committing!

Although the prison has been open for less than two years, three (non-practitioners) have already committed suicide by hanging themselves. There have been multiple attempts to escape and also violence.

This Chinese Communist Party (CCP) prison is truly a hell in the human world. A heavy gloom hangs over it, and strange things frequently occur. Female prisoners who dress like males were favoured. Often there were women together in pairs, hugging each other, feeding each other during meals, looking as if they were a couple. Not only among prisoners, even the female guards were happy to see those fake males. Yet the same police treat normal people with cold faces and threats, looking like malicious ghosts. In Ward No. 3 a prisoner named Qian Hua is an admitted homosexual. Before she came to prison she considered herself to be a man. Her girlfriend did not know she was a woman after going together with her for three years. After she came to the prison, she quickly got together with a ward chief named Fan. Fan provided a special single room for her and installed a door shade. One time the head of the prison caught them being intimate inside, so Qian was transferred to another ward. Lesbianism has become a special problem in this prison.

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.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/8/7/160361.html