(Clearwisdom.net) In the official laws of China, there are only five kinds of penalties: detention, official arrest, limited term in prison, life in prison, and the death penalty. But in the realities of the Chinese Communist system, there is another, more frightening, penalty: re-education through forced labor. Re-education through forced labor is different from prison terms, since it is far more arbitrary, decided entirely by administrative staff. In prison, a person's term may be reduced, but not extended without trial. In contrast, in a forced labor camp, the guards or even other officials outside of the labor camp can extend the terms of the detainees by anywhere between five days to one year.
Many Falun Gong practitioners who completed their term in a forced labor camp were sent to "brainwashing centers." Because they would not bow to pressure, they were often sent to another forced labor camp. Some Falun Gong practitioners were directly sent to prison.
In the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) words, forced labor camps are used to solve "internal problems within the people." Yet the treatment of detainees in labor camps is even worse than those of convicted criminals, who are considered to be the "enemies of the people." In a labor camp, one's only "right" is to obey and do hard labor. If one doesn't have enough to eat, she has to ask for help from her family. If her family doesn't help, then the labor camp won't do anything, either. According to them, they have no obligation to provide food.
It is relatively easy to avoid going to prison--one just has to know and obey the laws. However, avoiding labor camps is not so easy. The process for sending someone to a labor camp is simple and entirely decided by the administrative staff. There is no supervision or control mechanism. In one's workplace, if one does not agree with the policies of the CCP, one may be sent to a labor camp. When the labor camps need slave labor, the number of people sent to labor camps may increase as well.
Whenever an important event is to take place in China, the detention centers, labor camps, and prisons get very crowded. This is especially true with the labor camps. The government uses the labor camps as a tool to generate terror. China will be the host of the 2008 Olympic Games, and for this, all the labor camps are already full. The "leaders" in this swift action are Dalian City of Liaoning Province, Fushun City of Liaoning Province, and Beijing. Labor camp detainees are already being transferred from these three places to the Masanjia Labor Camp in Liaoning Province.
In Wafangdian City (Liaoning Province) alone, between June and August of 2007, more than 30 Falun Gong practitioners were illegally arrested and their homes raided. Most of them were sentenced from 1.5 to 2 years in a labor camp. Although the CCP touts its "Humanitarian" Olympics and "Green" Olympics, the reality is that the Beijing Olympics has been stained with blood and haunted by terror.
"Re-education through forced labor" has been a special tool that the CCP uses to persecute its people. It has been used mercilessly to torture the Chinese people and twist their conscience. Under the forced labor system, the Chinese people have been frightened and silenced. This illegal penalty is another link in the chain of CCP tyranny that has deprived the Chinese people of all freedom.