The Yunnan No. 2 Woman's Prison is a place where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) keeps prisoners with long jail sentences or death sentences. Since 1999 to the present day, several hundred female Falun Gong practitioners who were arrested by the State Security Bureau and the Provincial 610 Office [an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong] have been secretly sentenced and held there.
In the prison's training division is a team that specializes in persecuting practitioners. The team leader is Yang Huan, about 40. The former leader, Ma, is about 30. Ma was later appointed section leader of the Education Section (the brainwashing team). The deputy team leaders of the "training division" are Zheng Pin and a Mr. Sun. Additionally, there are a dozen or more female guards, including Xie Ling, Jing Rong, Zhou, and Liang.
The prison authorities set up a special group in the No. 4 Ward to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. The head of the group was Li Dongdong, who was later transferred to the prison's brainwashing section. One of the guards is Wu Xu, and another one is Yu.
Practitioners taken to the prison are first subjected to brainwashing in an attempt to try to force them to renounce their spiritual beliefs. If practitioners do not give up their faith, they suffer prolonged torture, including injections that damage the central nervous system, solitary confinement in small spaces, the death bed torture, electric shock, severe beatings, and being deprived of water. They are not allowed to have any contact with others or communicate with the outside world. This brutal physical and mental torture resulted in the deaths of some practitioners. Several became physically disabled, and several were driven to mental breakdowns.
The following are some of the means of torture used in the Yunnan No. 2 Prison:
Physical Torture
The most common means of physical torture include forcing practitioners to run for long periods of time, making them stand still for a long time under the scorching summer sun or in the biting cold of winter with a only a single layer of clothing, punching and kicking, crushing their fingers under high-heeled shoes, and shocking the genitals, armpits, mouth, and face with electric batons. Practitioners are also beaten with rubber batons, shackled to railings for long periods of time, bound tightly into contorted positions with their mouths covered with duct tape, and subjected to the death bed torture.
Using Drugs That Damage the Central Nerve System
The prison guards have given steadfast practitioners drugs that damage their central nerve systems. Some were directly injected, and others were given the drugs in their food and water, which in most cases was done by other inmates under orders from the guards. The drugs are very harmful. The practitioners experience depression, their reflexes become very slow, and they develop memory loss. Some practitioners lose consciousness and die.
Ms. Wang Xiuying, who worked at the Jiujijie Smelting Plant in Yunnan Province, was sentenced to five years imprisonment. She was forced to stand still for a long time, placed in solitary confinement, tied to a death bed1, and was then injected with unknown drugs. As a result, she became unable to talk or walk and ended up in a vegetative state. Even after she returned home, she failed to recover, and she completely lost her memory. She is now bedridden and dying.
Solitary Confinement
In the No. 2 Prison, practitioners, old and young, who refuse to renounce Falun Gong are confined in small, solitary cells as soon as they enter the facility. In each narrow cell, there is only a bare wooden bed, and the walls are covered with rubber. There are surveillance cameras in the cells. The practitioners are forced to sit on the wooden beds from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. They were not allowed to move or talk, and their hands must be placed on top of their knees. If they move even slightly, they are verbally abused, kicked, punched, and shocked with electric batons.
They are not allowed to wash, brush their teeth, shower, or change clothes and are only allowed to use the toilet four times per day. They are not able to use pads during their periods. They are not given enough to eat. In winter they are only allowed to wear underwear and a thin layer of clothing, but no socks. They cannot wear sweaters or coats. In summer, they have to wear coats.
According to prison regulations, inmates can be placed in solitary confinement for no longer than 15 days. However, practitioners have often been subjected to this for more than four months at a time. For not writing the three statements, some practitioners were in solitary for more than a year or until they were released. The longest solitary confinement was more than three years.
As a result of these horrible conditions, they suffer from bedsores and ulcers, and some appeared to have kidney disease. Other symptoms include high blood pressure, heart problems, lower-limb edema, joint pain, and limb weakness. o
Ms. Miao Qing, around 40, was a teacher at the Yunnan Art School. In September 2009, she was arrested and sentenced to five years of imprisonment. During her time at the No. 2 Woman's Prison, she was detained in solitary many times. This continued until the day she was released. She was profoundly affected, both mentally and physically.
"Strict Control"
Practitioners who refuse to renounce their belief during solitary confinement are forced to sit on small wooden stools, in cramped positions, from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. This causes extreme pain. Some practitioners sit on stools until they are released. For some, the skin on their buttocks peels off after their trousers are worn out. Some practitioners suffer from high blood pressure and swollen limbs, or their whole bodies become extremely swollen.
Ms. Yang Mingqing, 57, who worked at the Yunnan Forestry Training Center, was arrested at work by Panlong 610 Office agents and the local state security division. She was later sentenced to three years of imprisonment. On her first day at the No. 2 Woman's Prison, she was placed in solitary confinement, where she was kept for four months, and then she was forced to sit on the small stool under "strict control" until she was released. Her blood pressure was 200/120. Her lower limbs were swollen, her buttocks were festering with pus and blood oozing out, her hearing was impaired, and she felt extremely weak.
Slave Labour
All practitioners are forced to do slave labour 14 hours per day, from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.. In winter they have to work until 11 p.m.. During the 14 hours, they get two meals, 30 minutes allowed for each. The practitioners who do not renounce their belief are not allowed to leave their small stools to do the work.
Brainwashing
Other practitioners who do not give up their belief in Falun Gong are locked up in the "training ward," where they are subjected to brainwashing. Day and night, at close range and at ear-deafening volume, they are forced to watch video programmes or listen to audio recordings that slander Falun Gong. Even the inmates who monitor the practitioners cannot bear it, so they stay away from the audio and video programmes. If the practitioners resist, the guards have the monitors beat them. The monitors are forbidden to tell outsiders what happens in the ward.
Basic Human Rights Breached The practitioners who refuse to give up Falun Gong are not allowed to talk to people around them, nor can they move around or practice the five exercises. Except for materials that slander Falun Gong that the prison authorities force them to read, practitioners are not allowed to read anything. They are not allowed to write letters to their families or have visitors. The practitioners are watched 24 hours per day, with two personal monitors for each practitioner. These personal torturers keep very detailed records of what the practitioners say and do. If practitioners break any of the oppressive rules, they are severely punished. Many practitioners have been tortured for contacting other practitioners or for doing the Falun Gong exercises.
Note
1. "Death Bed" torture: A practitioner is tied to a bed with his hands handcuffed above his head to the bed rails, and his legs tied with thin nylon ropes. The rope is then tightly wrapped around the practitioner's body and the bed, from his legs to his chest. The rope is wrapped so tightly that the practitioner has difficulty breathing and eventually loses consciousness.
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/5/1/222691.html
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