(Clearwisdom.net)

After the Spring Festival in February 2004, every section of Chishan Prison began requiring prisoners, including Falun Dafa practitioners, to work up to 15-16 hours a day, with hardly ever a day off. On February 11, when Dafa practitioner Zeng Haiqi from Section Five was taking a break at noon in the workshop, Liang Yongzhong, the administrator in charge, hit him across the face, saying, "Other prisoners work more than 16 hours every day. You are a prisoner too. Why do you say that you'll only work for 8 hours?!" Zeng Haiqi protested, saying, "I am not a criminal! I have told you the reasons [for refusing to do forced labor] many times. Why do you still persecute Dafa practitioners?"

After work that day, all prisoners formed a line as usual, to "squat and report their numbers" to the administrator at the entrance to the living area ,. Zeng Haiqi, who was tortured almost to death last year, still refused to report his number. Liang Yongzhong rushed over to him, kicking and hitting him hard. Zeng Haiqi still refused to report. Then Liang Yongzhong ordered over 100 prisoners to repeat their numbers again and again as punishment for Zeng Haiqi's refusal and attempted to incite hatred from the prisoners toward Dafa practitioners. Once the prisoners became enraged at having to repeatedly report their numbers, Liang Yongzhong let them stop.

Zi Wei knew about practitioner Zeng Haiqi. He brought Zhang Ainian, the director of the Prison Administration section, over, saying, "Last year we failed to overcome him. This time let's just send him to the 'strictly monitored group' and make it impossible for him to live or die. Practitioner's Zhang Peng and Jia Zhefa who used to be confined should also be sent to the 'strictly monitored group'. It's too bad Chen Yang was released. Otherwise we could teach him a lesson too."

The "strictly monitored group' is actually a place in the Confinement Section, that Zeng Xianbao heads up. Dafa practitioners are confined there to specifically be persecuted using various means of torture such as electric shock, physical abuse, and other methods. The "strict monitored group" is created once a year and the program lasts for three months. Each time there are 15 to 40 people put through it. People describe it as a "meat grinder."

On February 20, Zhang Peng, Jia Zhefa, five other Dafa practitioners, and more than ten "habitual prisoners," underwent medical examinations in the prison hospital. Those who were healthy were sent to the strictly monitored group. Zeng Haiqi, however, did not undergo testing since Zi Wei had already put him on the list regardless of his health condition. The five unnamed practitioners were actually very weak from extended hunger strike and torture; but the prison doctor still provided certificates for them all to be sent to the strictly monitored group.

On February 22, when Dafa practitioner Jia Zhefa from Section Four was talking with someone, the administrator suspected he might have passed something on to that person and conducted a forced body search. Jia Zhefa protested this irrational action, preventing the administrator from searching the Dafa materials on his bed. As a result, the administrator punched him in the eyes, making them red and swollen. Later on, the administrator made a false accusation that Jia Zhefa "attacked the police" and sent him to the confinement room of the strictly monitored section on February 23.

Deng Yingfeng, the supervisor of the strictly monitored section, forced practitioner Jia Zhefa to stand facing the wall for 18 hours every day, from 6:00 am to 12:00 pm with only 10 minutes to take a break and walk each hour. Because Jia Zhefa refused to comply with these illegal rules, he was cruelly tortured by work prisoners directed by Deng Yingfeng at about 5:00 pm on February 25. Eight tall and strong work prisoners forcibly pressed his chest flat against the wall with his arms stretched out and legs split apart perpendicular to his body. The forced position tore his muscles and ligaments and the sound of cracking bones could be heard. Theses prisoners used such extremely cruel torture on him several times. Practitioner Jia Zhefa finally was able to leave the strictly monitored section on March 3.

When officer Zi Wei heard the plans about putting Dafa practitioners in the "strictly monitored group", he became concerned about problems arising with too many Dafa practitioners confined in the strictly monitored section, and changed the plan. Practitioners Zhang Peng and Ma Junwen were removed from the list and only Zeng Haiqi and Jia Zhefa were sent to the strictly monitored group. With 14 "habitual prisoners," there were a total of 16 people sent to the strictly monitored group.

Officer Zi Wei is well known for persecuting Falun Dafa practitioners. He closely follows orders from the "610 Office" [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.] to abuse Dafa practitioners through direct and indirect means. On February 26, Zi Wei, Zhang Yewei and two collaborators [former practitioners who have renounced their belief due to brainwashing and pressure and now aid police in persecuting the fellow practitioners] who renounced Dafa while detained in the female prison in Hunan Province, all came to Chishan Prison to give reports and persecute practitioners detained in the prison.

Since Zi Wei mentioned right at the beginning that people could have an open discussion directly after the reports, Dafa practitioners took notes about the distorted understanding spoken by Zhang Yewei and two others while sending forth righteous thoughts. Right after they finished their "reports," one of Dafa practitioners politely asked Ms. Zhang (one of the three collaborators), "Just now you said that you almost died because you developed uremia in 1997. It disappeared because you practiced Falun Gong. After that, you became obsessed with Falun Gong. My question is: If you really practiced a fraudulent belief, would your illness have been cured by practicing Falun Gong?" Ms Zhang didn't know how to respond. Another Dafa practitioner asked Zhang Yewei, "You said those who practiced Dafa just cared about curing their illness and keeping fit and their reaching consummation, and neglected their relatives and children. You felt desperate because you still did not reach consummation after about five years (since 1999), and gave up practicing Dafa. Our Master, however, has asked all Dafa practitioners to let go this mentality of pursuit and to elevate and improve according to the principle of "Truth-Compassion-Tolerance" unconditionally, without trying to achieve a result. Dafa is pure. It is you who understood Dafa in a distorted way. It is not that we don't want to be with our relatives and children. It is the government that has separated Dafa practitioners from them." Zhang Yewei looked completely lost after hearing this.

The talk lasted for more than two hours. With pure and compassionate righteous understanding, Dafa practitioners corrected the distorted understanding of Zhang Yewei and the other two. Listening to the rational explanations from true Falun Gong practitioners and the fallen ones, some police officers also listened tentatively. Several 'work prisoners' heard the whole proceedings, and said after the meeting, "True Falun Gong practitioners and the fake one were discussing their understandings of the principles of Falun Gong." One of them said that he clearly saw that Zhang Yewei and other two were not true Falun Gong practitioners and were exposed by the true Falun Gong practitioners.

When the three collaborators were about to leave, Dafa practitioners compassionately expressed the hope that Zhang Yewei and the other two would come back to join the Fa-rectification of Dafa. The three did not say a word. Officer Zi Wei's "reforming scheme" did not fool the prisoners, and totally failed with Dafa practitioners, so he decided to teach a harsh lesson to Zeng Haiqi and Jia Zhefa in the "strictly monitored group." He particularly hated Zen Haiqi because he failed to defeat this practitioner the previous year after subjecting him to three-months of torture, and he was sued by the province procuratoriat and exposed to the world media for committing acts of torture.

On March 1, Zeng Haiqi and Jia Zhefa were sent to the "strictly monitored group" again.

On March 21, intensive persecution formally began which the labor camp authorities called "intensive training". The group had to get up at 5:00 am for morning drills. Zeng Haiqi refused to wear the prisoner's uniform. The administrator ordered the work prisoners in the "strictly controlled group" (All of whom were wealthy from their previous crimes in the black market) to beat him violently and force the uniform on him.

When the administrator called role, the prisoners were required to answer "Yes." respectfully. Zeng Haiqi was beaten violently again for refusing to do that,

The prisoners had to half kneel with the right leg one step back when they reported to the administrators. Zeng Haiqi insisted on standing upright with dignity while speaking, so the prison police ordered several work prisoners to separate his legs, pointing his toes out so his feet formed a straight line. They kicked his calves, forcing him to kneel down facing the administrators. Kneeling like this on concrete for several hours, every minute was extremely painful .

The administrator who directed the beating and cursing reproached practitioner Zeng Haiqi while laughing, "Director Zi persecuted you this time so resolutely because you never kneel to report your number at the entrance to the living area. All other prisoners obediently kneel to give their numbers when entering and exiting the gate. That is giving respect to Director Zi and being obedient to the government. When you do not kneel to tell your number, the director thinks that you are refusing government reform and that you look down upon the government. That's why the director calls you practitioners, 'defiant people' who harm the security of the nation. Don't you agree? There are many more torture implements and electric batons ready for you." Zeng Haiqi said calmly, "Dafa practitioners are upholding justice. Your torture is illegal. You will receive karmic retribution."

Zeng Xianbao, the head of the confinement section, came over and said, "Stop talking and continue the torture."

Seeing that administrator insisted on evil actions after warning them and trying to save them, Zeng Haiqi began to send forth righteous thoughts, using divine power to shift the harm and pain resulting from violent beatings and torture to the perpetrators or to make them harm one another in order to warn them from committing more evil deeds against innocent people. He held this thought non-stop, and gradually, the vicious people felt so uncomfortable they stopped torturing him.

At lunchtime, Jia Zhefa was dragged out of the confinement room and his whole body was completely bruised. He and Zeng Haiqi had a brief talk, becoming aware that they should stop using the hunger strike to protest as before since the prison policemen had lost their last bit of sympathy, and even pushed Dafa practitioners to the limit with further cruelty. Therefore, they decided to use righteous thought to control the evil people so as to realize the goal of saving the world's people. Practitioner Zeng Haiqi asked, "Are you in a good state?" Jia Zhefa said, "They beat me the entire morning. But I did not hate them. Instead, I sent forth righteous thoughts to shift the injury and pain to the vicious people, hoping that they would be warned to stop their vicious actions. But the result was not obvious." Zeng Haiqi said, "My situation is similar. This is itself a test to us to see whether we can persist with our righteous thoughts. No matter what happens, we must continue to send forth righteous thoughts, aiming at saving them with a compassionate and pure heart." Jia Zhefa said, "I think that the chief of the vicious people is Zi Wei and Zheng Xianbao. Other administrators and the work prisoners are executing their orders. Let's focus on shifting the injury and pain to the Zi Wei and Zeng Xianbao. It would be best if Dafa practitioners outside could help."

The fellow practitioners not confined in the strictly monitored group sensed their danger in the "strictly monitored group," and started sending forth righteous thoughts to stop the electric shock and to help them shift the injury and harm from the electric shock and reflect it back to Zi Wei and others in order to deter them from committing more acts of torture.

That afternoon, according to the direction given by Zi Wei, Zeng Xianbao asked the work prisoners and the administrators to use electric batons of tens of thousands of volts and various terrifying torture tools to torture Jia Zhefa continuously. At night, they did not allow him to sleep and continued to shock him with the electric batons and beat him. Normally, the police only shocked even very vicious prisoners with electric batons for up to 3-10 minutes, but they continuously shocked and beat Jia Zhefa for days and nights. Jia Zhefa kept warning them that they would meet their karmic retribution. The prison police said, "During these three months, you must do the same as the other 14 'habitual prisoners' do, participating in 18 hours of army drills, speaking and acting obediently as prisoners, and singing songs that praise the labor reform. If there is anything that is not satisfactory, you will be punished by torture. Zi director is determined to defeat you this time." Jia Zhefa continued to send righteous thoughts to shift the waves of pain to those responsible for torturing him. It was reported that a fellow practitioner from another section saw fuzzy blocks of injury and pain flowing through the air and then landing on Zi Wei and the other police while he was sending forth righteous thoughts to help them to shift the injury and pain.

Zeng Haiqi was tortured in another confinement room but further details are unknown.

In accordance with Dafa practitioners' strong righteous thoughts, the thugs really began to treat each other viciously. On March 4, Zeng Xianbao, the head of the strictly monitored group, and Wang Jianliang, the head of Section 7, were eating a hot pot meal, a traditional Chinese meal similar to fondue. They started to fight and curse each other over some trivial things. Wang injured Zeng, so Zeng threw the hot pot in his face, causing severe burns. Wang had to stay in the hospital and his family prepared to sue Zeng for intentional harm and disfigurement, while. Zeng worked hard to use his connections to settle the matter privately while treating his own injury.

The morning after the hot pot incident, work prisoner Li Yunfei, who helped the police in the strictly monitored group, suddenly died of cerebral hemorrhage on his way to breakfast at the canteen. Though this work prisoner had not persecuted Dafa practitioners, and died of natural causes, the persecutors became afraid and felt the shadow of death above them. They reluctantly released Jia Zhefa from the "strictly monitored group" and sent him back to Section 4, but kept Zeng Haiqi for continued persecution.

On March 8, the "strictly monitored group" began their program of daily physical punishment which they called "military training." Before dawn every day, the common criminals came to the ground singing revolutionary songs. Zeng Haiqi refused to participate in the morning drills and singing. The police ordered two prisoners to drag him out and to place him on the wet ground. His clothes were torn and his shoes were lost. Long marks of blood were left on the rough concrete ground.

They dragged Zeng Haiqi out like this both in the morning and in the afternoon. Occasionally, some work prisoners would go and kick him because they were following orders from the administrators. They forced him to stand the whole day. Dafa practitioners went to the prison director to request that they stop persecuting Zeng Haiqi, but the situation remained the same the same for three days.

On March 11, they stopped dragging Zeng Haiqi out to "publicly display his punishment", but they still kept him in the "strictly monitored group." According to inside sources, Zi Wei and others ordered that Zeng Haiqi be confined in a room and hung by his bound hands from the ceiling for a whole day and night in order to avoid their persecution of Zeng being witnessed by the public. He was hung up and whipped for more than 18 hours a day. The prisoners and those police who had some conscience felt stricken with concern. They thought that nobody could endure being hung up and whipped like this for so long a time. Dafa practitioners began to send forth righteous thoughts to shift Zeng Haiqi's injury and harm from the persecution back Zi Wei and Zeng Xianbao right after they heard the news. All other prisoners in the confinement were let out twice for half an hour each time, but Zeng Haiqi was not allowed out at all.

What happened afterwards is unknown. The "strictly monitored group" suddenly received a stern alert. The details are under further investigation.

Persecution Cases of Other Falun Dafa Practitioners

Prisoners at Chishan Prison are forced to work for more than ten hours every day, with only one day, or at most two days break each month. They stop working at different times. The longest is work day is 16 hours. Sometimes they have to work extra hours. The one or two-day break basically replaces public holidays, so that virtually no holidays (except Spring Festival) are observed.

1. Deng Ye went to Section 6 to clarify the truth about the persecution against Falun Gong to the administrator Qiu Hui, Guo Xiaohan, and Xie Zhihua right after he got to the prison. Since he refused to kneel down before speaking, he was violently beaten twice by three people directed by the administrators. The administrators pretended not to see by closing their office doors while Deng Ye was being beaten.

2. Deng Ye went to the administrator to solve some problems because he was not familiar with the work. At that time Ren Hui was a director. He said that he was not in charge of the production. When Deng Hui went to look for section head Qiu Hui, Qiu Hiu, however, threatened to use violence to treat Deng Ye.

3. Deng Ye did not kneel down to talk the director when he protested against the search of Falun Gong materials. Then he was handcuffed for 15 days, and hung up near the washroom. His hands were cuffed on the iron bars of the window for more than ten hours every day, causing his legs to swell.