First-Hand Experience of Brutality at Fanjiatai Prison

I am a professional driver from Xiliuhe Town, Xiantao City, Hubei Province. After I began practising Falun Gong in April 2007, my mind and body became purified.

In August 2007, officers and agents from the Xiantao 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) arrested me and took me to the brainwashing centre located at the former Magang Township Finance Department, Xiantao. I was imprisoned there for 35 days.

On May 13th, 2008, Xiong Sijin of the sub-district office pretended to call for a taxi service but instead tricked me into entering the residential committee office. Wang Yang, deputy director of the Xiantao 610 Office, and three other agents arrested me, took me to the Tangxun Lake Brainwashing Centre in Wuhan City, and tried to “transform” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] me. At the brainwashing centre, they tried to use a prostitute with a Henan accent to lay a trap for me, but they failed. They later imprisoned me at the Xiantao No. 1 Detention Centre.

I resisted the persecution in the detention centre, and I persisted in doing the exercises and explaining the facts about Falun Gong. Hence, many inmates learned that Falun Gong is good, and some even learned the five exercises. When I entered cell 11, a transient cell, on the first night all the inmates were in bed and covered in their blankets. The cell head, Zhang from Zhanggou Town, asked me to identify myself. I said that I was a Falun Gong practitioner. All of the inmates awoke and looked at me. They asked me to explain Falun Gong. I calmed down and peacefully told them how I followed the principle of Zhen-Shan-Ren (Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance) to be a good person. As soon as I finished, I had tears in my eyes, and there was a burst of applause in the cell. They all crawled out of their beds and cried, “We also want to practise Falun Gong.” It was a special miracle, and while I was explaining the facts about Falun Gong my body gave out a special fragrance that filled the whole cell. The fragrance remained for about eight hours, and almost every inmate came to me to smell it. They were amazed.

I was later transferred to cell 28. Others in the transient cell were also sent to other cells. Those who had learned the truth passed on their amazing experience to others. All inmates in cell 28 praised Falun Gong for its goodness. Two inmates frequently did the exercises with me. A death row inmate in cell 12, whose family name was Zhou, also praised Falun Gong. I explained the facts of Falun Gong to him through letters. I asked to be transferred to cell 12, but people in cell 28 firmly refused to let me go.

The Xiantao 610 Office had the police department, Procuratorate, and the judicial system sentence me. On March 5th, 2009, the director of the Xiantao Detention Centre, Wang Xiaoping, and three officers imprisoned me at the Pinghu Prison in Shayang County, Jingmen City. I was later transferred to the fourth ward in the Fanjiatai Prison, which is well known for its brutal persecution of practitioners.

In September 2009, after I disclosed the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) lies that slander Falun Gong, fourth ward warden Zu Jian locked me in cell six on the second floor.

At the end of 2010, inmate Zhou from Hanchuan was playing poker in my cell. I used the chance to explain the facts of Falun Gong. Zhou not only refused to accept the truth, but he also disrespected Falun Gong and said nonsense. I stopped him and warned him that he would meet with retribution if he did not stop and show repentance. Instead of listening to my words, Zhou instigated the inmates assigned to monitor me to harass me. A week later, Zhou banged his head and died. For some time after the incident, the persecution was lessened.

The situation worsened again after Mei Dazuo, who might be a spy, and took the lead in persecuting practitioners. Deputy instructor Wang Jie from Zhanggou Town, Xiantao, posted Mei's article that viciously attacked Falun Gong in the corridor crossing. Practitioner Mr. Liu Lin from Changchun tore it down. They posted it again the next day, so practitioner Mr. Yang Xiangui from Yuan'an tore it down. They then posted it in cell seven, so I tore it down. Feng Jingqiang and four other inmates beat me, and I lay on the ground nearly unconscious. They kicked me and injured my side, and I lost my memory. One of them, Ye Ming, asked me, “Are you going to tear it down again?” In return, I asked him, “What is this place? Who are you?” They saw that things were not going well, and they were afraid of being held responsible, so they stopped.

In March 2011, fourth ward warden Xiao Tianbo forced practitioners to perform slave labour. Mr. Liu Lin wrote a refusal letter, saying that we are practitioners, not criminals, and we refuse to perform slave labour. Deputy instructor Wang Jie led a group of people to the cell and slandered Falun Gong. I stood up to stop him. He was afraid, and he looked at Feng Jingqiang and the other four or five inmates and instructed them to push me onto the bed and to not allow me to speak. They kicked me in the head, waist, and chest for half an hour. I could not stand and was on the edge of losing consciousness. They were afraid and wanted to hold me up, but I could only fall over. This repeated several times. It was like I was almost in a coma. In my head I cried, “Falun Gong is Good.” I felt a shock through my body. I stood up, dashed to the corridor, and cried aloud, “Falun Gong is good.” All the inmates were surprised, and all guards were frozen still. “Falun Gong is Good” echoed all throughout the fourth ward.

Feng Jingqiang and others then took me to the office. Xiao Tianbo shouted, “Put handcuffs and some shackles on him!” I had used up all my strength and could no longer stand. They lifted me to the strict monitoring team and cuffed me to poles in the ground so that I was in the shape of the Chinese character for “big.” I was unable to move any part of my body for the next 15 days.

Mr. Liu Lin was beaten for more than a month on the fourth floor. Scars were all over his body. The inmates who led the abuse were Wu Qianfeng from Tianmen City and Zhou from Jiangling. Xiao Tianbo and Wang Jie gave them roasted chicken as a reward. Wu Qianfeng followed the orders of guard Zhu Jian and brutally beat practitioner Mr. Wang Delin from Shiyan City. Wu was later transferred to a strict management ward for fighting with other inmates. He told practitioner Mr. Yang Xiangui about how Zu Jian ordered him to beat Mr. Wang Delin.

All practitioners on the second floor cooperated as a whole. The guards' intention of making us slave labourers failed. Practitioner Mr. Liu Deyu from Jingmen refused to sign up, refused to have his head shaved, refused to wear inmate clothes, and refused to fill out any kind of forms. He suffered extreme abuse. All 11 practitioners on the second floor refused to sign up. Guards locked all of us in an activity room, subjected us to the sitting punishment, and beat us whenever they felt like it. We were forced to sit from 7:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m., and we were not allowed to use the toilet.

The next day, the guards blocked me and did not let me walk out of the room. I paid no heed and walked to the first row in the activity room. The practitioners had me sit with them and warned the guards with righteous thoughts, “Have you persecuted us daily? Today we will make it a big fare.” The guards hid in their office and called their superior, but the superior did not dare to come. Guard Zu Jian tried to force practitioners to wear inmate name tags. We refused, and practitioner Mr. Hong Feng was beaten for it. Later, when I refused to have my head shaved, the inmates beat me fiercely and used this as an example to threaten other practitioners.

The guards worried that their evildoing would be made known to the public. They would not hit us on our heads, but ordered the inmates to kick our sides. I survived nine brutal beatings by a gang of inmates. During one of the beatings, I spat out black blood. However, after every beating, I stood up immediately. I also took showers with cold water even when the temperature was freezing. Through all of this, the inmates met with retribution. They had pain in their hands if they punched us, and they had pain in their feet if they kicked us. During the 15 days that I was suffering the worst abuse, Feng Jingqiang lay on a bed with pain in his body for those same 15 days. Afterward, he asked why this happened. When he was beating me, he said that he was most afraid when I would shout “Falun Gong is good.” When the guards met with their retribution, they did not dare to beat us again. By this time, the guards then had new inmates to use to beat me. When they finished, guard Zu Jian pretended to be nice and said, “No beating.” I said, “Without your order to guarantee shorter prison terms, they are not willing to persecute good people.”

Inmate Feng Jingqiang was the head of a gangster group in Tuanfeng County. He tried to persuade me with tears in his eyes, “Why don't you transform?” I replied, “If I compromise, I will regret it my whole life."

In October 2011, guards Xiao Tianbo, Zu Jian, and Chen Hao tried to order inmates to abuse me because I always resisted any persecution. Since they witnessed Falun Gong's miracles in my body, the inmates all refused. The guards then ordered new inmates to beat me and devised a plan to block me from shouting “Falun Gong is good”: the inmates stepped on my mouth and made it hard for me to breathe. Xiao Tianbo thought that his plan had worked, and he came to show off in my cell. I was having my meal and did not acknowledge his presence. He left in disappointment. Guard Chen Hao then called me to his office. I said, “I am eating. I won't go.” They forced me to the office, and Xiao Tianbo ordered, “Handcuff him.”

I held my hands in front of my chest and faced the guards. Guard Chen Hao tried to move me but failed. He then shouted and punched me in the face three times. I said, “Go on.” When he saw that I was not hurt, he went to a corner holding his swollen hand. Xiao Tianbo then came to punch my face. I shouted loudly, “Falun Gong is good.” Xiao was scared and covered my mouth with his hands.

Ye Ming and Feng Jingqiang then dragged me to the strict management ward. Guards there saw that my clothes were torn and did not dare to admit me, saying that I needed a physical exam in the hospital first. I said, “I am a practitioner. I have no problem.” I really did not have a problem.

Xiao Tianbo, Wang Jie, and Mei Dazuo tried to play tricks on me during my second stay in the strict management ward. They had one inmate pretend to be a practitioner and had inmate Chen Ying pretend to interrogate him in the next cell. From my cell, I could hear clearly what they said. They did this for two days and told me that they had transformed him. I saw through their trickery. Xiao Tianbo was disappointed and sent me back to my original cell one week later.

All 11 practitioners on the second floor refused to sign the prison-release documents, refused to take any travel allowances, and refused to receive money from the accounts set up by families. We did not leave a single stain. When my release day was close, the guards called the Xiantao 610 Office. Wang Yang and more than 10 people from the 610 Office drove to the prison and tried to arrest me right after I left the prison.

I openly went straight home.