(Minghui.org) Over 30 Falun Gong practitioners illegally detained in Siping Prison in Jilin Province were transferred to Gongzhuling Prison on August 6, 2013. It's said that Gongzhuling Prison guards were discussing how to further persecute these practitioners.
The 35 practitioners detained in Siping Prison were held in wards 10 and 11. Practitioners Yang Xiuwen and Gao Weixi were hospitalized for a long time, and Shi Guoliang was also sent to the provincial Police Hospital.
In the afternoon on August 5, 2013, the inmates from wards 10 and 11 finished slave labor early, and the number of guards was doubled. That evening, more guards were put on duty in each ward.
The next day, August 6, nobody worked after breakfast. Around 7:00 a.m. the guards came with 75x120cm poly-woven bags marked with practitioners' names on them. They ordered the inmates to gather up the practitioners' belongings and put them in the bags. Because the bags were only big enough for the bedding, things like thermos flasks, wash basins, meal boxes, and food items had to be put in other plastic bags. All their warm clothes for autumn and winter were put into standard bags specified by the prison and sent to the storeroom in the workshop, where practitioners also kept their work clothes and other personal necessities. They asked the guards what would happen to these things and were told they would be put together and sent to them by August 10.
Around 7:20 a.m., Liu Haitao, a newly appointed prison head, and a large number of armed police and guards called out the practitioners one by one, searched them a few times before, and took them to the athletic field. The practitioners were handcuffed in pairs and the guards verified their names and photos again.
At 8:30 a.m., the practitioners were surrounded by armed police and marched onto a big bus. Altogether, 35 Falun Gong practitioners were transferred, with 34 on the bus. Practitioner Shi Guoliang was still in Xinkang Hospital in Changchun City. More than a dozen officers were on the bus. Practitioners heard from the police walkie talkie that there were seven vehicles altogether. Theirs was the third one in the convoy, and the vehicles behind them held inmates of foreign nationalities.
The convoy drove out of the prison gate after 9:00 a.m. A police car led the convoy with its siren blasting. They drove for about 40 minutes before they hit the highway. After another hour, they separated. The bus carrying the practitioners exited at Gongzhuling, and the rest went to Changchun.
A large number of armed police were waiting at the Gongzhuling exit. After the bus went through the exit point, it drove to Gongzhuling Prison, escorted by heavily armed police.
There was a weed-filled concrete road inside the prison. The bus was too wide for the inner watchtower gate, so the practitioners were told to get off the bus outside the gate. The police searched them again before taking off their handcuffs. The practitioners were then taken to a basketball court, where they were surrounded by a crowd of inmates and police. They were divided into groups of five or six and taken to different prison units.
When the practitioners got to the units, they were questioned again and then immediately sent to do forced labor. They learned that their extra baggage didn't come with them. That evening when they got back to their assigned wards, they found some of their baggage lying around in a mess. Their bedding and their belongings such as thermos flasks, wash basins, meal boxes, and food had been left behind. It was high summer, and they had to do without flasks to drink from or basins to wash their faces. They waited and waited, but they never saw their other belongings again.
The day of their transfer the weather was fine, but after that, the weather began to change. For days it was overcast with dark clouds and it drizzled non-stop. Thunder rolled in the distance. One day at dusk when people were talking about the strange weather, a fireball suddenly streaked across the sky with a big explosive cracking sound and sparks flew out in all directions. Many people saw the lightning jumping around. All the inmates talked about it.
The next day it thundered again, and another fireball appeared and hit the building. All the inmates said, “It must have come to hit people.” It was said that some Falun Gong practitioners were locked up in small cells and suffered brutal torture.
In the prison, practitioners were constantly watched, and even when they said something in the restroom, it would be reported. Some inmates told them, “There is a special section in the prison for persecuting Falun Gong and it's very evil. The prison also keeps very tight security. For example, if they have badly injured you, it's a top secret and your family is not allowed to visit you until your injuries are healed. They totally deny they have ever beaten you.”
The practitioners who were transferred from Siping Prison had to wait three weeks before their bank accounts were transferred over to Gongzhuling Prison. But their warm clothes were never delivered to them. When autumn came it got quite cold. The police couldn't care less about them. Some inmates couldn't bear to see them suffering and secretly gave them warm clothes.
When they finally got to see their family, they learned that, in fact, their relatives had been coming to visit every day. But the prison authorities told them if they wanted to see those who refused to be "transformed" (brainwashed), they had to go to the provincial 610 Office to get permission.
Many of their family members were also Falun Gong practitioners, and they kept clarifying the facts to the police and encouraging them to quit the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organizations.