The Persecution at Anhui Provincial Women's Prison

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) media has described the Anhui Provincial Women's Prison as follows, "Inside the white high wall, several grey buildings stand neatly in order. Finely trimmed flowers and trees dot the green lawn. Inside the buildings, lovely ornaments, orderly beds... This is the Anhui Provincial Women's Prison, the only women's prison situated in the suburbs of Suzhou City in the north of Anhui Province." This description makes the prison sound almost like a resort, but what really happens inside?

There are approximately thirteen brigades in the prison. Each brigade (prison area) has several hundred people. The total number of inmates is about four to five thousand. Each brigade has sub-divisions. In each cell, there are twelve to fourteen inmates. Each guard looks after three cells. In each brigade, there is one leader, two deputy leaders, and guards. There is a brigade with elderly and disabled inmates, where forced labour is mainly done in the cells. The other brigades are production brigades. Inmates go to workshops to do forced labour and that's where they have their meals, as well.

Poor Living Conditions and Forced Labour

The food provided is barely enough and sometimes the rice is not fully cooked. In 2007, several inmates died while in custody. The authorities of the prison then allowed inmates to have physical examinations in hospitals. Most of the examination results showed that inmates suffered from malnutrition. One inmate suddenly died due to illness, and the reason for his death was not made known. His family members threatened to sue the prison, and the prison authorities were nervous and started to give an egg to each inmate with the morning meal in 2008.

Almost all of the inmates have to do forced labour. In the production brigades, inmates get up at 4:30 a.m. and typically finish work at around midnight. Each day they work more than sixteen hours. They have three meals in the workshops, with half an hour for each meal. They sleep for less than six hours a day. Inmates often faint due to fatigue. When officials come to inspect the prison around May 1st, October 1st and the New Year, they finish work at 6 p.m.. In the brigade with the elderly and disabled, they get up at 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. and finish at 10 p.m.

The inmates are ordered to perform tasks like making garments by hand. They do whatever work the prison can get. The extra long hours of work and harsh labour physically exhaust the inmates, and it is in violation of the prison law.

Maltreatment of Falun Gong Practitioners Is the Most Severe

The prison is a harsh place to be for regular inmates, but it is even worse for Falun Gong practitioners. Once, the prison detained over one hundred Falun Gong practitioners. Since 2008, forty to fifty practitioners have been held there. The brigade for the elderly and disabled has over ten Falun Gong practitioners, and the other brigades has about four or five practitioners each. There are inmates watching over practitioners all the time, and they are detained separately. The policy of the prison regarding Falun Gong practitioners is that complaints and applications for bail are not allowed except for dire circumstances. For example, Wang Chuming, a practitioner in her sixties from Wuhu, had suffered from several kinds of cancer, including liver cancer and one of her breasts had been removed. She became healthy again after she started to practise Falun Gong. After she was detained and persecuted, however, she contracted illnesses again. She was unable to do any work. Her mouth and nose bled heavily. She was released on emergency bail.

The prison authorities also persecute practitioners mentally and try to transform [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] them. This is carried out in the eighth brigade, which is a strictly controlled area. In the first six months of their terms, practitioners have to do forced labour. This is the "investigation period". After that, the prison tries to forcibly transform practitioners. After 2007, the prison has tried to transform practitioners as soon as they come into the prison. When the transformation period starts, three or four inmates and one practitioner form a so-called "surveillance team." The practitioners are under strict surveillance by the inmates. They stay in an isolated cell together. Practitioners are deprived of sleep and forced to watch DVDs and read books that slander Falun Gong. Former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong talk to practitioners. If Falun Gong practitioners do not comply with the transformation attempts, the inmates then punch and kick them, and guards shock them with electric batons. If practitioners shout "Falun Gong is good," inmates put dirty socks and towels into the practitioners' mouths. If practitioners don't give in, they will be transferred to a place under the jurisdiction of the prison's education department. Practitioners are persecuted even more severely there.

Zhang Heping from Hefei is in her forties, and owned a small photography business. She was sentenced to eight years in prison after she was detained in 2002. Her husband was sentenced to forced labour. Once, four or five guards shocked her with electric batons until the batons ran out of charge. She was brutally beaten by drug addicts and inmates who had committed robbery.

Zhang Yushu from Hefei was kicked by inmates as soon as she fell asleep, and was harshly beaten.

Fan Wenfang from Fuyang was first sentenced to two years of forced labour. Shortly after she was released, she was arrested again and sentenced to seven years in prison. In order to protest the persecution, she went on hunger strikes on and off for three years. They force-fed her and broke her teeth in the process. She became emaciated and for a period suffered mental problems.

Wu Yunrui, former deputy mayor of Haozhou City, was sentenced to four years in prison for appealing for Falun Gong in Beijing. Department Chief Kong of the Prison Bureau led guards to beat her until she lost consciousness. She suffered head injuries and had mental problems as a result. She was arrested again nine months after she was released, and sentenced again to four years. She has suffered a great deal, and gave up Falun Gong under duress.

On the website of the Prison Management Bureau under the Ministry of Justice, there is a list of stipulations banning torture and detailing human rights regulations. They also call the prisons "Windows of Civilisation and Advanced Work Units." The actual accounts tell quite a different story.

Anhui Provincial Women's Prison
Address: Xiguan Street
Post Code: 234000
Telephone: 86-556-3021020
email: [email protected]
Liu Xiangling, Deputy Director
Telephone number of the third brigade: 86-551-2838377

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/1/5/215719.html