Eyewitness to the Mistreatment of Falun Gong Practitioners in Chuanxi Prison

I am a native of Sichuan Province. Because of something I was involved in, I was sentenced to prison for voluntary manslaughter and sent to Chuanxi (Women's) Prison. To make a profit, the prison authorities forced prisoners to work overtime every day. Sometimes we did not get any sleep for several days and nights. Anyone unable to complete the assigned workload would be yelled at and assaulted, tortured with tight ropes and handcuffs, and any money given to them by their family would be confiscated. Many people could not endure the inhumane mistreatment. Some committed suicide or injured themselves.

In the latter part of 1999, the prison received some Falun Gong practitioners who had previously suffered tremendous mistreatment in another prison in Jianyang City, Sichuan Province. The prison authorities followed the instructions from the communist regime and set about trying to brainwash these practitioners. The prison authorities closely monitored everyone. If a prisoner expressed any sympathy for Falun Gong, she would be regarded as having "dangerous thoughts." The punishment for that was physical and mental abuse, reduction of merit points, and solitary confinement.

I was assigned to monitor Falun Gong practitioners. After they told me the facts about Falun Gong, I realized that Falun Gong teaches people to be a good and unselfish. Later I had more opportunities to be close to them. I realized that Falun Gong practitioners are conscientious, and their moral standards are quite high. Even in such a harsh environment, they still cared about others all the time. I could not understand why the Communist Party had arrested and persecuted these good people who followed the principles of "Truth, Compassion and Forbearance."

Here I would like to reveal how the prison guards mistreat the practitioners.

All practitioners were searched upon entering the prison. After that, they were watched by some of the inmates. They did not have any basic human rights. In order to try to force them to "reform¹," the prison authorities used incentives to encourage the other inmates to participate in the persecution. The incentives included merit points and sentence reductions. The prison authorities ordered the practitioners to obey all the rules, such as manual labour, wearing the prison uniform and criminal symbols, and spying on other inmates. Basic human rights such as using the toilet, shopping in the prison store, and meeting with family members were strictly regulated. If anyone refused to work, the guards would tell several criminal inmates to push and shove them and force them to do the work. If any practitioner refused to wear the criminal symbols, the guards would take away their clothes. Some practitioners ended up with only one set of clothes. The prison guards could withhold meat from their meals; some even banned vegetables. In the end, the practitioners were only allowed to eat rice. The time allowed for toilet breaks, washing their face, and brushing their teeth was also tightly controlled. Some practitioners' families came from far away to see their loved ones but were turned away at the prison entrance. Eventually the prison authorities chose extreme measures to try to force practitioners to "reform," even taking away the most basic rights enjoyed by other prisoners. They put practitioners into solitary confinement and assigned the most vicious criminal inmates to monitor them.

In April 2000, in order to punish the most steadfast practitioners, the prison guards handcuffed their hands to the window frames in their jail cells. This torture lasted from 10 to 15 days. During this time, the practitioners were allowed only three toilet breaks a day. Some of the women ended up soiling their clothes. Another kind of physical torture was to force the practitioners to run long all day long. Even the elderly women with little energy were not spared. Some practitioners were too tired to run, so the guards would tell criminal inmates to push or drag them. Some practitioners' hands were injured from being dragged, and their feet were badly bruised from the excessive running. Another punishment was abolishing the after-lunch nap. Some criminal inmates took away the practitioners' blankets until midnight. Once the prison guards tried to make practitioner Ms. Gao Hongxiang wear a criminal sign. She refused and threw the sign on the floor. To punish her for her defiance, the guards brought several tall, strong inmates from the kitchen. They threw her to the ground and kicked, and punched her with all their might. Many people heard Ms. Gao's loud screams.

Unlike the regular inmates who only suffer physical pain, Falun Gong practitioners suffer both physically and mentally. The prison authorities use "reform specialists" to try to brainwash the practitioners. These people were criminal inmates who received a reduced sentence or other benefits for cooperating with the guards. They used every conceivable tactic to deceive and intimidate the practitioners. Many display boards were hung in the prison to insult Falun Gong. These boards were designed to spread lies and poison the inmates. Some practitioners could not bear the sight of the graphic displays that slandered Falun Gong. They tore down and destroyed the display boards. To punish them, the guards ordered inmates to put the practitioners into solitary confinement. One day guards Wang and Gao pushed a pen and paper in front of practitioner Ms. Gao Hongxiang and told her to write a "promise" to give up Falun Gong. She refused. These two guards led her to an office, where several guards pinned her to the floor and tied her up. The next day, they again tried to force her to write the guarantee statement. Ms. Gao wrote: "Is this how you enforce the law?" The guards were furious. They pushed her to the floor and tied her up again. After the repeated torture, Ms. Gao's right thumb was permanently injured.

The guards often search the prison cells without notice. They thoroughly sift through practitioners' belongings, such as letters and daily items. They also search their bodies for any Falun Gong literature. Every time they did this, they turned everything upside down unapologetically.

Some practitioners resorted to a hunger strike to protest the persecution. As a result, they were very weak, some even near death. The prison authorities showed little mercy and refused to release them. The guards (Zone head Wang among them) and prison doctors worked together to handcuff them behind their backs and force-feed liquid food into their stomachs. Some also used infusions to sustain the torture. An older practitioner died during force-feeding by several prison guards (including Section Head He). To cover up the facts, the guards warned the criminal inmates not to tell anyone. They told the practitioner's daughter that her mother had died of illness.

Guard Wen Xiujun hated Falun Gong. Whenever high ranking officials and reporters visited the prison, practitioner Ms. Fan Ying would yell "Falun Gong is good!" so people knew that practitioners were incarcerated here. Guard Wen Xiujun would openly insult Ms. Fan.

Some criminal inmates assigned to monitor the practitioners were sympathetic. Inmate Yang Dejing helped practitioners to obtain Falun Gong literature from outside and was informed on by others. The prison authorities punished her severely. Even fellow inmates were punished along with her, and their request for a reduced sentence was denied. Yang Dejing herself was grossly mistreated. She was tied up several times, physically assaulted, and put into solitary confinement to sleep with snakes and rats. Yang was so scared that she almost had a nervous breakdown, yelling out loud at midnight. Her physical and mental health both deteriorated badly. Practitioner Ms. Li Ying, who was involved in this, was punished with a three-year addition to her sentence. Several other practitioners were also punished. After that incident, the prison authorities started a new round of harsh persecution.

I witnessed the above stories with my own eyes. I also knew many other criminal inmates like me. They truly believed that Falun Gong is good, and that the practitioners were unfairly persecuted. Falun Gong turned these criminal inmates into good people. Some saw their sentences reduced; some had their original verdicts changed. I was sentenced to several years, but later was found innocent and released. Falun Gong is indeed amazing, it is wonderful!

People responsible for persecuting Falun Gong in Chengdu Women's Prison, Sichuan Province:

Head: Zhang

Team Leaders: Ms. Wen Xiujun, Ms. Guo

Guards: Zhu Yan, Yi Zhenping, You Mingying, Yang Xiaoping, Zhou Li, Chen Ling, Han Min

The most nasty guards are: Wen Xiujun and Zhu Yan

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")

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/4/18/176724.html