The Inside Story of Crimes at the Qiqihar No. 1 Detention Centre

Below is my friend's disclosure of the crimes occurring in the Qiqihar No. 1 Detention Centre:

1. Hell in the Human World

Qiqihar No. 1 Detention Centre is a hell in the human world. Once you enter, you will be isolated from the outside, completely. You are not allowed to be visited, there is no TV or newspaper, and even a pen is forbidden. What you drink is ground water and you can take only a cold-water bath. Prisoners are not allowed to shave and can only pull out their moustache hairs. There is no toilet paper and you can only wash when using the wash room. You are required to sit crossed leg in one line, and you cannot move. Your legal rights cannot be guaranteed at all. When you are sick, they will say you are pretending. If you sing a song, you will be slapped in the face. You are only allowed to sing, "Without the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) there is no new China," and you have to sing it at a certain time. Some Falun Gong practitioners refused to wear the prison uniforms and refused to recite the jail rules, so they were subjected to assaults by the police officers. It is said that a brainwashing centre was built close by.

When the leader comes for inspection, you have to clean right away, and sit up straight. When the leader walks through the jail room, inmates are required to shout out, "Welcome leaders for coming to inspect and give us direction." The food is extremely poor, even though there are detailed nutrition standards and appropriate funds for detainees' food. However, after layers and layers of compromises, there remains only rice cakes and vegetable soup. You cannot even see any oil.

The detention centre regulations require that the leg shackles weight cannot exceed five kilograms (11 lb.). Tight shackles and back shackles are forbidden. These regulations however, are routinely ignored. The shackles in the picture are the most commonly-used ones in the jail, and weigh 10 kilograms (22 lb.). Hand shackles are also used. When the shackles are tight, the hands become swollen after a while. This is not the end, as the wardens will force you to crawl in a circle in the corridor and go to each door of the cell block to aggravate the torture.

Newspaper photo

When Falun Gong practitioners are brought into the detention centre, they are usually carried in with many injuries. Some practitioner's legs are festering with large holes, and some practitioners' arms cannot move at all, with their hands very swollen. According to the detention centre regulations, they should refuse to accept these practitioners. However, after the police department gives the detention centre head, Tian Weiguo for example, a call, they will accept the injured practitioners.

The jail's administrators rotate duty and the detainees also take their duties in turn. However, it is just for show. It is managed by the jail heads, who are appointed by the warden, and are usually the warden's relatives or favourites.

2. Producing Products for Export

The Qiqihar No. 1 Detention Centre forces their detainees to take part in handicraft manufacturing to make huge profits. They call it by a good name, "doing exercises." But, it is actually intense work to meet aggressive quotas. The inmates often work overtime, and are seriously overloaded. They make toothpicks for pricking fruit that are exported to Korea. Actually, the toothpicks are produced in such poor sanitary conditions that the bacteria seriously violates the safety standards. According to regulations, the detainees should not take part in this type of labour. However, the detention centre and businessmen see the prisoners as cheap labour and they collude with the administration department to assign tasks to the prisoners to make profits for the detention centre and themselves. If the detainees don't work, they are subjected to punishment, including being forced to sit cross legged for extended periods of time, not being allowed to walk for as long as an entire day, and restricted wash room privileges.

Most of the commodities available to inmates for purchase are fakes, and the prices are very high. Bedding is 130 yuan¹. When you shake it, the dregs fall down. If you hang it in the sun, you can see the light coming through. If you cover your body with it, you will be dyed green. Some quilts are labelled as "non-commodity." The clothes become wrinkled after washing. Not to mention the food--some has been expired for several years.

3. Trashing Privacy

Each cell has male rooms and female rooms. For example, in a corridor, the outside ones are female rooms, while the inside ones are male rooms. The monitor cameras are connected together, and there are no dead corners. Normally, the monitor cameras monitor each room in turn, and are also connected with the downstairs, which is the No. 2 Detention Centre (for administration detention). The monitor stays on in each room for 5 to 6 seconds, and it can also stay on longer. The guards can also hear the talking in each room. When something happens or there is a loud sound, they will switch the camera to that room. Each ward area has a monitoring room. Some of the police officers assigned to these duties peep on ladies taking baths.

Although the regulations forbid torture, many prisoners are subjected to torture. Many people experience the "big hang up"² of the Longsha criminal police, the "pull" of the Jianhua criminal police, and the electronic shocks of the Tiefeng police.

What I have mentioned is only the tip of the iceberg.

Note

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

2. "Big hang up" - There are two forms in this torture: (1) With both hands cuffed behind the back and only the toes touching the ground, one is hung by a rope that is tied to the metal window frames. (2) One hand of a practitioner is cuffed to one bunk bed and the other hand to another bed, and the two beds are pulled in the opposite directions. One feels extreme pain as the body is pulled.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/3/3/173545.html