(Clearwisdom.net) Zhejiang Province Women's Prison is touted as a ministry-level "civilized" prison. This superficial label conceals the fact that Falun Gong practitioners are cruelly tortured in this facility. Since 2000, prison authorities have been participating in the persecution of Falun Gong. Ms. Gao, the former key contact person in the Jinhua area, Ms. Jin Meihua, the former assistant contact person in the Hangzhou area, and other female practitioners sentenced in Zhejiang Province are all detained in this prison.
1. Forced Brainwashing and Use of Inmates to Torture Practitioners
Deputy Wardens Jiang, Fang Yuhong, and Lin Fang and education division members Wu and Zhao Wenxuan are all members of the so-called "Transformation" Leadership Team. The team also includes Wu Ying, Wang Hong, Shen Lai, Zhang Jinyun, and Xu Xianghong. If practitioners refused to give in, they were confined in the solitary cells, provided less than enough food, forced to undergo brainwashing, not allowed to buy extra food, forbidden to read books/newspapers, and not allowed family visits. If practitioners refused to write "criminal" on their letters to the outside, their letters were discarded and never mailed.
When these tactics did not succeed, near the end of 2003 the prison authorities transferred those practitioners who refused to give up their practice of Falun Gong to another ward to isolate them. They also carried out a so-called "Spring Thunder Conquering" plan that consisted of four to five inmates taking turns attacking the practitioners and also forcing them to watch videos slandering Falun Gong with vicious lies and propaganda. However, those methods of torture and ill treatment still could not sway those steadfast practitioners.
To further persecute the steadfast practitioners, the prison authorities imitated other women's prisons. Starting in June 2004, the prison authorities emptied the whole first floor of a building to detain eight practitioners who refused to give in. Videos slandering Falun Gong were shown 24 hours a day. If the practitioners shut their eyes and refused to watch the videos, the prison guards would pry open their eyelids and pinch their eye sockets. Practitioners were also forced to write reports on their "experience and learning" after the forced video watching. If they refused to write such reports, they were deprived of sleep for over 20 days.
In those prison cells, all the windows and doors were locked and all the curtains were drawn, so the practitioners never knew the time. They were not allowed to use the toilets outside the cells. Instead, there was a toilet bowl in the middle of the prison cell. Every day each practitioner was provided a small amount of water to use. Practitioners who still refused to give in after several days were denied any water and could not wash themselves.
During the 20-day period, the prison guards faked compassion to deceive practitioners into giving in. When defeated, the guards then turned vicious and violent. On the walls of the cells, the guards put up large posters with slogans slandering Falun Gong and practitioners. They also ordered the strongest inmates to beat practitioners. If a practitioner ever showed any resistance, the inmates would say, "What? You want to hit me or something?" Then they would beat the practitioner even more severely, saying they felt threatened by the practitioner's unacceptable "behavior." Meanwhile, due to long sleep deprivation, practitioners would become dizzy and disoriented. Taking advantage of this, the guards would hold a practitioner's hand to sign a forged statement giving up practicing Falun Gong.
Many practitioners were tortured until they were no longer recognizable. Ms. Zhu Yuanzhu was tortured over three weeks without any sleep. The once beautiful young lady in her 30s looked like much older person in her 50s.
Since their campaign against those eight practitioners began in June 2004, the prison authorities have escalated their persecution of all detained practitioners. The prison authorities have remarked, "Falun Gong practitioners have special skills to adapt to the environment. Once they are used to the prison environment, it will be impossible to transform them." All newly detained practitioners were directly sent to the isolated prison cell to undergo violent brainwashing until they gave in. In March 2006, Ms. Yang Jie was confined and tortured like this for several months. However, Ms. Yang was still steadfast in her practice of Falun Gong, which meant that the prison guards had failed at all their attempts and methods of torture.
It should be noted that the prison authorities have been using criminal inmates the entire time to carry out all their vicious persecution of practitioners. For instance, an inmate with a financial criminal record, Wang Hong from Hangzhou City, was released not long after serving only half of her original 12-month term simply because she had made an effort to "transform" the practitioners. In October 2006, she was invited back to the prison to teach other inmates her skills in "transforming" the practitioners. The prison authorities compiled her vicious methods of torture into a book and gave it to all inmates to study.
One such technique illustrated in the book stated that two special persons should be involved in brainwashing a practitioner. The first person should act nice while the other should play tough with the practitioner. The first person should pretend to treat the practitioner with compassion and appear caring so that the practitioner would open up her mind and heart to the first person. Then the other person should find weak points in the practitioner's words and then launch attacks specifically targeted at those weaknesses, thus achieving their goal of torturing and "transforming" the Falun Gong practitioners.
2. Civilized Appearances Cover up the Persecution
The prison occasionally has visits from high ranking provincial and ministry officials and foreign organizations. The inmates have to get up even earlier than usual to clean up in preparation for those visits. Since decreasing the time designated for forced labor is not allowed, the inmates' rest time is reduced. Those inmates who dare to speak up against this (including inmates who claim they are innocent, those that dare to expose the evil in the prison, or practitioners refusing to give up practicing Falun Gong) are hidden by the authorities in an attempt to cover up their preparations and touch-up work.
The prison authorities claim that they stick to the policy of eight hours of work a day and six work days a week. But overtime work is a common practice. Sometimes the overtime even cuts into the inmates' dining time. The prisoners get a day off once a month, sometimes only once in six months. However, the prison guards forbid any entertainment activities and force the inmates to study political propaganda. Eventually, the inmates would rather do hard labor than study politics, which serves the prison authorities' hidden agenda quite effectively.
On May 1, 2006, a younger inmate in her early 20s committed suicide by hanging herself. This girl had only two years to go before completing her prison term. She could no longer stand the relentless beatings, curses, and insults at the hands of the cell head and prison officials. She had appealed to the prison authorities to switch to another prison section and labor group, but the authorities could have cared less and so she killed herself in desperation. Due to this incident, the prison guards' bonuses were canceled and the prison's "Civilized Prison" designation was also in danger of being revoked. From then on the prison authorities established a policy of routine, large-scale cell searches and would not allow possession of prohibited materials, even a plastic bag, that could be used to commit suicide.
In June 2007, Ms. Jin Meihua from Hangzhou City was arrested once again. Her lawyer presented her defense and argued for her innocence. However, the Hangzhou City's Xiacheng District Court followed the order of the local 610 Office and sentenced her to five years of imprisonment. Now Ms. Jin Meihua has been sent to Zhejiang Province Women's Prison again.
Everyone with a sense of justice, please be concerned about these practitioners who are tortured in this CCP prison and help stop the persecution of Falun Gong.
March 3, 2008
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