(Clearwisdom.net) In May 2001, I was forced into a so-called "study class," which was actually a brainwashing center. The brainwashing center is really a prison in which many criminals are detained. Dafa practitioners are held separately in different prison cells. Three prisoners took turns to monitor us daily. We were not allowed to practice the Dafa exercises or talk to each other. We had to be called, line up in the queue and work like common prisoners. Everyday, a Dafa practitioner was summoned to the office to be brainwashed by a few collaborators*. Steadfast Dafa practitioners were told that they would be detained forever.

It was a place where human nature was distorted. Many prisoners told me that they were so frightened that their whole bodies were shaking when they first came. The policemen, guards, and prison trustees could randomly beat and curse anyone. Almost every newly detained prisoner was brutally beaten and had money extorted from them by the other prisoners. The whole prison was covered by an evil field, in which the good side of human nature was completely suppressed, while the evil side was permitted to exist and encouraged.

Many new prisoners were beaten and had money and possessions extorted when they first came. Later they also tried their best to beat and extort money from other prisoners who came after them. In order to persecute us, the prison management offered to reduce prison terms by eight days per month for prisoners who "monitored" us. But if the prisoners didn't prevent us from doing the Dafa exercises or from sharing experiences, this offer would be canceled. Many prisoners, therefore, were extremely dedicated to watching us. As we didn't improve our xinxing [mind nature], we could not break through this difficult situation. In the first year of our detention we could not even practice the exercises, and merely sharing experiences could only be done secretly. Still, we gradually became more mature in Dafa.

I remember in the first few months, it was very difficult to explain the facts of the persecution to the prisoners; they were always sneering. One day when we worked in the factory, a prison trustee beat anther prisoner for a very small transgression; several hundred people watched numbly in the factory. Only I called loudly, "Stop beating that person!" All of a sudden, it awakened many people's righteous minds. Almost all the prisoners called, "Don't fight!" That prison trustee was so scared that he quickly left.

Since then, whenever there were prison guards, security guards or prison trustees beating people, Dafa practitioners always took the initiative to stand up to stop it, which led to those criminals behaving a little less viciously. The prisoners' impressions of Dafa practitioners also changed. Many people told me, "It was Falun Dafa practitioners who brought righteousness to this place." When we clarified the truth to them again, many people were willing to listen and some even wanted to practice the exercises with us; the monitoring of us also became less intense.

One day in May 2002 when I was reciting Master's article "Expounding on the Fa" I suddenly enlightened that over the past year we had quietly accepted the evil's persecution against us, and had been passively enduring it. I then shared with other practitioners about stopping performing the forced labor or being present at headcounts, as well as beginning to openly practice the exercises.

The next day when they called us to go to work, we refused. The policemen were so rampant that they first threatened us; then they called others to forcibly drag us away. None of the Dafa practitioners were at all upset. We pointed out to them seriously that the detention itself was illegal.

The criminals were very scared. Our uprightness suppressed their doings and didn't dare to give us a hard time any more. We openly practiced the exercises in the cells again. Prisoners didn't dare to interfere any more, while the police also pretended that they had not seen it. Soon a new team leader came. One day when he came upstairs on patrol and saw me meditating, he crazily rushed in and pulled me off the bed. I said to him loudly, "What do you want to do?" This criminal police officer was suddenly shocked and dared not to talk to me. Instead, he loudly scolded the prisoner assigned to monitor me and even threatened to extend his term. I had one thought at that moment: that this prisoner had done nothing wrong and should not receive any punishment. So I said to this criminal policeman, "What does this have to do with him? What right does he have to interfere with my practicing the Dafa exercises? I hope you don't give him a hard time." The criminal policeman then left, and the prisoner indeed didn't receive any punishment.

As the environment became easier, besides daily studying the Fa and practicing the exercises, we sent forth righteous thoughts eight to ten times a day. Some practitioners sent forth righteous thoughts more than ten times a day, each time for over 20 minutes or even longer. As a large amount of evil was eliminated, more than a dozen of us were gradually released, several of the most vicious policemen were transferred away for no reason, and the crimes of beating and extorting new prisoners no longer occurred. Many old prisoners could not believe this. Some of the worst prison trustees were all removed and behaved prudently. All the prisoners were willing to listen to our clarifying the truth for them, and no longer believed the fake reports and the words on TV and in the newspapers that slander Dafa. When their friends and relatives came to visit them, they even clarified the truth to them.

In May 2003, only a few Dafa practitioners and I were still detained there. One day when I sent forth righteous thoughts I suddenly enlightened that I must take the initiative to be proactive. When I enlightened to this I was so full of tears that I could not even stop it, therefore I wrote a letter to the "610 Office, "** pointing out that it was illegal for them to detain Dafa practitioners. At the end of the letter I wrote, "If you don't release me, I don't want to beg you either. However, I'd like to give you a piece of advice: don't do evil deeds any more; you must know that when it comes to the end, the good will be rewarded and the evil will receive retribution, if not by humans, it will be so from the will of heaven."

The second day after this letter was sent, they released me.

* Collaborators are former Falun Dafa practitioners who no longer practice but now assist the persecutors and enforcers to do evil.

**"610 Office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

June 18, 2003