Persecution in Yangjiang Prison, Guangdong Province

The Yangjiang Prison, built in 1959, is located in southwest Guangdong province and has 14 divisions. Yangjiang Prison authorities have held and persecuted the largest number of Falun Gong practitioners of any place in Guangdong province.

Competing for the "Eligibility" to Persecute Falun Gong

Yangjiang Prison authorities proactively competed for the eligibility to imprison Falun Gong practitioners. One time, a police officer from the prison bragged to Falun Gong practitioners, "Many other prisons are not eligible to hold Falun Gong practitioners. Yangjiang prison was not eligible before either, but we eventually won the competition."

In 2002, Cai Xipeng was assigned to be the chief officer for Yangjiang prison. After he took charge, the number of imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners grew rapidly and the prison became a central location for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners in Guangdong province.

In order to obtain the status of a "Provincial Level Model Prison,"Cai Xipeng increased forced labour quotas, confiscated prisoners' money needed for daily necessities, and bribed the administrative staff in the provincial prison management bureau. In order to gain attention from Jiang Zemin's [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] regime, he abused Falun Gong practitioners in ever more brutal ways to achieve a higher "transformation" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] rate.

Systematic Persecution

In November 2007, Yangjiang Prison held 20 to 30 male Falun Gong practitioners. According to information leaked out from the prison, Yangjiang Prison used extremely cruel methods to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.

Yangjiang Prison established its own "610 team" (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), modelled after the 610 office, with the specific purpose of persecuting Falun Gong. The head of the 610 team is the prison chief officer, who is also the secretary of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the prison. The "education department" director is the prison's deputy chief officer. The prison's 610 team uses all of the prison's personnel, from department heads and division heads to regular staff members, even inmates as members of the "mutual supervision team". The 610 team can use any resource available in the prison to accomplish its mission.

Yangjiang Prison also uses the method of implication, where anyone even remotely associated with Falun Gong practitioners can be punished if the practitioner refuses to renounce Falun Gong. The prison has a regulation that if a Falun Gong practitioner cannot be converted on schedule, the whole work unit will be ineligible to compete for the title of "advanced unit." The officer in charge of the unit will be criticised and may even be demoted. In addition, the inmates in the "Falun Gong mutual supervision team" will not be eligible for sentence reductions. Under these conditions, many people, whether they know the facts about Falun Gong or not, began to aggressively persecute Falun Gong practitioners.

The inmates watch practitioners' every move, even when they use the toilet. They report the practitioners' every movement to the prison guards. The reports have to be written every day. The team members' beds are arranged to surround the practitioners in order to prevent them from doing the exercises. The guards frequently try to incite resentment towards the practitioners among the inmates.

The prison authorities brainwash Falun Gong practitioners using all sorts of methods, including:

forcing practitioners to read and copy books slandering Falun Gong,

forcing practitioners to watch films produced by the CCP that slander Falun Gong

forcing practitioners to write statements to renounce Falun Gong,

forcing practitioners to write "thought reports" every day,

forcing practitioners to attend "Exposing and Criticising Falun Gong Conferences", where Falun Gong practitioners are verbally abused and criticised.

Yangjiang prison also uses all kinds of physical punishment to torture practitioners and use them as a labour force to produce goods to be sold outside the prison or exported overseas. Falun Gong practitioners are not allowed to write or receive letters or to receive visitors, unless they renounce Falun Gong. Practitioners are not allowed to read anything, and they are not allowed to talk to other inmates.

Methods of physical abuse include:

1. Sleep deprivation

2. Torturous physical exercise including non-stop running and calisthenics

3. Beatings

4. Electric shocks

5. Being bound with handcuffs and shackles. They bind practitioners' hands and feet together for long periods of time, so that the practitioner has to bend over throughout the duration. Then the practitioner is forced to walk from the dorm to the prison factory while still bound in this position. If the practitioner cannot move, two inmates are ordered to drag the practitioner on the concrete all the way to the factory.

6. "Strict Supervision." Practitioners are given little food, no break during lunch time, and they are forced to stand facing a wall. They suffer from physical punishment in the morning, afternoon and evening. They are forced to sleep on a hard-board bed with their arms and legs locked on the bed, and they are not allowed to turn or use the toilet. Sometimes, they are beaten without any explanation.

7. Punitive forced feeding. The prison guards instigate the inmates to torture Falun Gong practitioners who go on a hunger strike with forced feedings conducted in public.

Forced Labour

The prisons in China have been using Falun Gong practitioners as a source of free labour to manufacture cheap products. Some of the products are sold in China, but many are exported. The major item produced at Yangjiang prison for export is knitted sweaters.

The inmates have to work every day including Saturdays and Sundays, as well as in the evenings. They are forced to work for up to 80 hours each week. They have to get up at around 5:00 a.m. and are allowed to use the toilet only once in the morning. In the winter, inmates are forced to have meals outdoors and all the food is cold. If there is a power outage, inmates are forced to stay outside, and when the power is restored, they have to return to work immediately.

Even inmates with disabilities and confined to wheelchairs are forced to work. Recently, in order to deceive the public, the prison advertised its "eight hour working system" and "inmate pay system." All the staff members in Yangjiang prison, from the average prison guard to the chief, say that the eight hours are the time for inmates to go to the toilet, drink water, breathe and take a brief break in a 24 hour day. As for the salary, the payment is never more than 10 to 20 yuan¹ a month.

List of Falun Gong practitioners held by Yangjiang Prison:
Wei Yingxin (Guangzhou Province, imprisoned August 16th, 2006)
Li Xiaosong (Guangzhou Province)
Chen Wenjie (Jiangmen City, a term of 10 years, imprisoned in July 2003)
Li Jinghui (Shaoguan City, a term of 6 years, imprisoned in July 2003)
Jiang Xiaoming (Jiangmen City, a term of 10 years)
Pan Jianming (Jiangmen City)
Li Yibin (Enping Region, Jiangmen City, a term of 10 years)
Yang Bangquan (Zhuhai City, a term of four years and six months)
Liang Jinchuan (Maoming City, a term of 7 years, imprisoned on January 15th, 2007)
Liao Chengbin (Maoming City)
Wu Yongjian (Maoming City, a term of 7 years)
Li Kun (Maoming City, a term of 14 years)
Li Xinhua (Maoming City, a term of 5 years)
Wu Jincheng (Maoming City, a term of 14 years)
Liu Jianzong (Maoming City, a term of 12 years)
Liang Loutu (Maoming City, a term of 9 years)
Zheng Bao (Maoming City, a term of 7 years)
Ke Zhengji (Maoming City, a term of 7 years)
Chen Xiangqian (Maoming City, a term of 13 years, a former college student at Zhenjiang Oceanic University, imprisoned in 2002)
He Gengqing (Dianbai Region, Maoming City, a term of 11 years, a former college student at Zhenjiang Ocean University, imprisoned in 2002)
Zhuo Jiangshan (Wuchuan Region, Zhenjiang City, a term of 12 years, imprisoned in April, 2008)
Zhou Jianyuan (Wuchuan Region, Zhenjiang City, a term of 7 years, imprisoned in April, 2008)
Huang Jiang (a term of eight years, imprisoned in November, 2003)
Gan Qinfeng
Wang Jinhua (Yangchun City, a term of 12 years, a college graduate from South China Agriculture University)
Feng Rifeng (Yangchun City, a term of seven years, a college graduate from South China Agriculture University)
Wu Zhiqin (Maoming City, a term of seven years)
Ke Huashang (Suixi City, a term of two years)

Partial Persecution Accounts of Individual Practitioners

Mr. Chen Wenjie was a Section Chief of the Statistics Bureau in the city of Jiangmen in Guangdong Province. He was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment, and taken to Yangjiang Prison in July, 2003. When he refused to wear the inmate uniform, CCP officials prompted inmates to beat him. He was also beaten when he refused to follow orders from the officials. When he refused to perform forced labour, the officials had inmates tie up his wrists and ankles, and then hung him from the ceiling upside down.

Due to his refusal to stop practising Falun Gong, the officials made inmates shout close to his ears when he tried to sleep. The inmates used a paper tube to direct the sound to his ears. This type of torture led to a loss of hearing and dried blood falling from his ears. Mr. Chen attempted a hunger strike, but this led to brutal, painful force-feedings.

Mr. Wei Yingxin is 72 years old. He was a researcher with the Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Company in Guangzhou City. Mr. Wei was arrested on the morning of September 12th, 2005, and taken to Daxinjie Police Station. That afternoon, officers from two police stations, Daxinjie and Tonghe, and the 610 Office in Yuexiu district went to his house, broke open his safety door, and ransacked his home. When his family members asked for police identification, only two officers provided it, (019094 and 020540), while others left the house. In the meantime, Mr. Wei was transferred to the Yuexiuqu Detention Centre, where he was handcuffed and told to sign some documents. When he refused, he was thrown forcefully against a wall, rendering him unconscious. The injuries he sustained forced him to recover in bed for over ten days. On January 25th, 2006, he was sentenced to four years imprisonment by the Yuexiuqu Court in Guangzhou City, and then transferred to Yangjiang Prison on August 16th, 2006.

In July 2002, Mr. Huang Jiang was arrested by officials from the 610 Office and police department in Zhanjiang City. He was held at the Xiashan Detention Centre in Zhanjiang City for over a year, and sentenced to 8 years in jail. Officers confiscated and never returned several thousand yuan, a recorder and a computer. In November 2003, he was transferred to Yangjiang Prison.

Mr. Wu Yongjian was a teacher at Maoming Educational College in Gaozhou City. He started practising Falun Gong in 1995. In July 1999, his home was ransacked and he was detained for several days, while officials tried to force him to write a guarantee statement to renounce Falun Gong. He was allowed to return to the college, but was suspended from work. In October 1999, his home was ransacked again, and he was detained for 15 days. His monthly income was reduced to 200 yuan. He was allowed to stay in the college dormitory, but not allowed to contact anyone, including his family. In 2000, his home was ransacked twice, and he went through similar ordeals as he did in 1999. By the end of 2000, he wanted to appeal to higher authorities in Beijing, but was arrested and returned to Gaozhou City. After several days of interrogation, he was sentenced to 7 years in jail. For over a year, he was subjected to maltreatment and forced labour in the Second Detention Centre of the city. He lost a great amount of weight, his eyesight weakened, and his reactions slowed. Then, rougher treatment followed in the Yangjiang Prison, where beatings were prevalent.

Li Xinhua was born on May 29th, 1984 in Maoming City. He is the son of Mr. Li Kun. He was a student at the Dianhai Senior High School in Dianbai City, when he refused to participate in a march which supported the persecution of Falun Gong. He was expelled from school in April, 2001 for his actions. He was arrested by police officers in January 2002, while he was distributing Falun Gong materials in a neighbouring city, and returned to Maoming City. The CCP officials sentenced him to 5 years in Yangjiang Prison, even though he was not yet an adult.

Li Kun was sentenced to 14 years in prison. For three years, he was tortured by inmates under the direction of prison officials, and he was not allowed to have visitors. They also forced him to write insulting statements about Falun Gong.

Li Yibin, 33, was a staff member at the Electric Power Innovation Company in Guangzhou City. He began his Dafa practice in 1998. On April 16th, 2002, he was arrested while downloading Falun Gong materials, and was sentenced to 10 years in the Yangjiang Prison.

Mr. He Gengqing lived in Maoming City in Dianbai County. He was a student in the agricultural college of the Oceanic University in Zhanjiang City. In November 1999, he went to Beijing in order to appeal to higher authorities for the right to practise Falun Gong, but was held at the Zhanjiang Detention Centre. He refused to give up his practice, and was expelled from the university in 2001. While talking to people about Falun Gong in other cities, he was arrested and sentenced by the Maoming Court to 11 years in jail. He was one of seven practitioners sent to a theatre in Maoming City, where an event was set up to humiliate the practitioners.

Chen Xiangqian was a student in the agricultural college of the Oceanic University in Zhanjiang City. In December 1999, he went to Beijing to appeal to higher authorities, and was held at the Zhanjiang Detention Centre. In January 2001, local police officers and others from the Oceanic University came to Mr. Chen's home, attempting to brainwash him. After this, he decided to leave home to avoid further persecution. In March, Mr. Chen was arrested by police officers from Maoming City while preparing Falun Gong materials. He was expelled from the university and sentenced to 13 years in jail.

Mr. Liang Jinchun was born in 1973. He travelled to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and was sentenced to 4 years in jail on August 2001. One night in February 2006, a group of criminals came to ransack his home. He was beaten, and then taken to the First Detention Centre of Maoming City. He was sentenced to 7 years in jail in a closed trial. His wife could not deal with the pressure and has requested a divorce.

Mr. Li Jinghui lived in Shaoguan City, and he was sentenced to 6 years in jail. When he refused to perform forced labour, the guards shackled him, and made inmates drag him to and from the work area.

Mr. Gan Qinfeng was forced to stand on hot concrete for hours, and beaten behind closed doors for three days. He was forced to undergo brainwashing sessions.

Zhou Jianyuan was sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment. He became emaciated due to the persecution.

Zhuo Jiangshan was sentenced to 12 years in jail, the same time as Zhou Jianyuan. Mr. Zhuo's arms and legs were broken due to severe beatings.

Perpetrators involved:

Cai Xipeng, warden: 86-662-6380988/6380968 (office), 86-662-6380888/13922017688 (home)
Du Wentao, deputy warden
Liang (male), 610 Office director: 86-662-6380323/6380610
Chen (female), 610 Office director: 86-662-6380610
Rao Wulie (male), chief, Education Section
Xu (male), Chief of the Reconnaissance Section (responsible for the incident involving Mr. Chen Wenjie): 13827058589

Xu Ying, police officer at Yangjiang Prison
Zuo Jianzhe, Xie Long, police officers in Prison District 8
Zhuang (surname), police officer assigned to persecute practitioners: 13702811151/0662-6380759
Chen Zhenlian, Dong Ganshi, Zhuang Ganshi, police officers who persecuted Huang Jiang
Inmates: Li Jianhui, Zhong Jinming, Yu Gang

Yangjiang Prison Address: Wenquan, Nalong Town, Yangjiang City, Yangdong County, Guangdong Province, postal code 529935

Note

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

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/1/26/217314.html