Persecution of Practitioners in Fanjiatai Prison, Shayang City, Hubei Province

In the past eight years, over 100 Falun Dafa practitioners have been detained in Qinduankou Prison and Shayang City Fanjiatai Prison in Hubei Province. They have encountered the most contemptible cruel persecution. Some have been injured or disabled, and some have lost their lives from torture.

Pressured by the exposure of these acts by practitioners from both inside and outside of China, in February and March 2007, the Labour Education Bureau divided the 36 practitioners that were detained in Qinduankou Prison into two groups and transferred them to the remote Fanjiatai Prison. There were 20 practitioners already being held in Fanjiatai Prison, so there were altogether 56 practitioners in Fanjiatai Prison. Fanjiatai Prison also drafted prison guards and criminal prisoners and established three monitoring subgroups. For example, within the No.4 Monitoring Group, they established the No.1 and No. 2 Monitoring Subgroups, and within the No.3 Monitoring Group, they established the No.7 Monitoring Subgroup. They have equipped one prison guard and two criminal inmates to monitor one practitioner, and in addition to that, every monitoring cell is equipped with three criminals that take turns day and night. They applied so-called "all closed management" for practitioners, which means that practitioners are locked in a cell all day long, and have to go to wash, use the toilet, eat and sleep together as a group. The practitioners are led by an inmate group leader and are monitored by other inmates, and they have to get permission from the inmate on duty to go in and out as a group from one cell.

In the cells, the perpetrators force practitioners to sit in front of their beds. They cannot talk with other practitioners, and during closed periods, they cannot make phone calls to or visit with their families. They are especially prohibited from seeing family members who are also practitioners. Even packages sent by the practitioners' families are returned with all kinds of excuses. The guards limit the monthly expense allowance for daily needs to 100 yuan¹, forcing practitioners to shave their hair twice a month, and prohibiting them from having a mosquito net in the hot summer when the cells are full of mosquitoes. Worst of all, if practitioners sit on their bed or bench and close their eyes to take a break at noontime, the guards order the criminal inmates to turn on the television and adjust the volume to maximum, make loud noises with stringed instruments, madly knock on the benches, etc. The noise fills the whole cell, keeping practitioners from resting, disturbing them mentally and hurting them physically.

Despite the persecution in the prison, practitioners explain the facts about Falun Dafa to the guards and the prison officers, write letters to the people's representatives, the CPPCC standing committee and the upper level organisations, talk to the guards and inmates about the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party ², and spread the word about quitting the CCP and its affiliated organisations. Practitioners also write letters to their families to expose the truth about the torture by guards and other prison personnel to wake up those relatives and other people deceived by lies. These efforts represent the practitioners' broad hearts.

The 20 practitioners that were detained in Fanjiatai Prison are detained in the No.2 Subgroup of the No.4 Monitoring Group. The inmate prisoners threatened the practitioners that were transferred to Fanjiatai Prison with would could happen to them. They said, "Your situation is much better, because for those practitioners that used to be detained in Fanjiatai Prison and did not "transform³" or did not follow directions, some were injured or disabled, and some were persecuted until their blood pressure spiked. They were sent to the hospital then died a few days later." The persecution suffered by practitioners previously detained in Fanjiatai Prison was very severe.

Note

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

2. Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party: Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party is a series of essays published in late 2004 that reveal the true nature of the Communist Party. The Nine Commentaries have led millions of people to renounce their membership in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). "A book that has shocked all Chinese around the world. A book that is disintegrating the Communist Party." http://ninecommentaries.com

3. "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/2007/9/3/162019.html