(Minghui.org) The Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison, located in Harbin City, has two divisions used specifically to persecute Falun Gong practitioners: the 8th Division and the Intensive Training Division. Practitioners are incarcerated in rotation in the two divisions. For example, if a practitioner is held in the Intensive Training Division on odd months, she is transferred to the 8th Division during even months.
The 8th Division is located on Levels 5 and 6. The captain is Lu Xiufeng, and the deputy captains are Suo Yuanyuan and Xiao (first name unknown), who is also an agent of the 610 Office. Every practitioner is monitored by five inmates around the clock.
On the first day that practitioners are sent to the 8th Division, most are subjected to brainwashing on Level 6 by inmates Yuan Jingfang, Chen Yang, Wang Shu, Li Siping, Gao Wentao, Liu Rong, Jiang Yunying (since released in March 2024). The inmate in charge of brainwashing practitioners on Level 5 was Sun Jing, who once said that she had personally trained many inmates on how to torture Falun Gong practitioners.
The prison has a department known as the Command Center. It monitors every division and workshop 24 hours a day. The surveillance cameras capture both images and sounds. Every level in the building has two large display screens that provide real-time monitoring of each cell. The inmates on Level 6 often watch the screens to monitor every team in the cell. If they see that someone isn’t lying down on their bed, they will go to the cell and order the person to lie down. Once, an inmate saw two practitioners from her cell talking to each other. She immediately went over and verbally abused them. She also ordered other inmates to monitor the practitioners closely. Practitioners are always monitored by one inmate, regardless if they are working, having meals in the cafeteria, or meeting with their family.
Practitioners in the 8th Division are first forced to write guarantee statements to renounce their faith and then have to take written tests and go through interviews designed to evaluate if they have truly given up Falun Gong. Practitioners are also forced to watch videos slandering Falun Gong and Falun Gong’s founder. Afterwards, they are sent to do manual labor in the workshop without pay. On 20th of every month, practitioners are ordered to write thoughts reports. If they refuse, the captains and inmates verbally abuse them and otherwise punish them. All inmates in the cells will also be implicated and not allowed to sleep or will have an upper limit imposed on how much they can spend in buying daily necessities.
Practitioners who refused to be “transformed” are verbally abused, beaten, and restricted in buying daily necessities. They are also deprived of visitation rights and forced to sit upright on small stools from 4 a.m. to midnight, with their hands on their knees and not allowed to move or to close their eyes. They are also deprived of restroom use, not given toilet paper, or not allowed to take showers. The torture usually takes place in cold and damp shower rooms or restrooms.