(Minghui.org) The Jidong Prison in Hebei Province is located in Tangshan City and is sited near a large salt field with endless salt ponds and salt piles of various sizes. There are no trees except for electric poles. Anyone who walks near the prison can be seen clearly from far away.

The prison was built in March 1956 and was previously known as Hebei Province First Labor Camp. It was later named Jidong Prison between May 1995 to August 2011. Since August 2011, it has been renamed as the Jidong Branch of the Hebei Provincial Prison Administration Bureau.

Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, many male Falun Gong practitioners have been sent to Jidong Prison after their sentencing. Nearly 30 practitioners have been persecuted to death in the prison.

Goal of Persecution

The CCP persecutes Falun Gong practitioners with only one goal—to “transform” them and force them to renounce their faith. The Jidong Prison has continuously participated in the persecution, and actively relays their experiences with other prisons.

The Education Department of the Jidong Branch of the Hebei Provincial Prison Administration Bureau leads and manages the Education Department of each prison under it to carry out the “transformation” work.

The 4th Division of the Jidong Branch serves as the entry education facility. Regular inmates and practitioners are usually first held in this division to complete admission procedures. Afterwards, they are detained in Teams 1 or 2 of the 4th Division for closed-door education and management for several months, which involves intimidation and learning the prison rules.

Inmates are assigned to monitor Falun Gong practitioners once they enter the Admission Team. Some practitioners are taken to the Education Department every day to watch videos or read articles that slander Falun Gong. There was a collaborator who became the instructor for the prison and assisted the guards in “transforming” practitioners.

Practitioners who do not waver in their faith after one month are sent to the Strict Management Team for further persecution.

The prison has brought relatives and friends of practitioners to the prison to try to “transform” them. Mr. Wang Weichao from Beijing was sentenced to three years and later held in the 5th Division. When he was in the 4th Division, the prison brought his mother to the prison in attempts to pressure him into renouncing his faith.

Some practitioners were taken back to the Admission Team for further persecution. The guards would first try to use soft tactics to persuade practitioners to renounce their faith. If this fails, they turn to violent means.

If the 4th Division manages to “transform” a practitioner, they are rewarded with a large sum of money. Other divisions only get 20,000 yuan in cash.

Guards with high academic qualifications specifically target practitioners with high academic qualifications; other guards are tasked with using violence on practitioners. Some inmates are also assigned to use physical violence on practitioners.

The prison director or veteran guards usually aren’t directly involved in the abuse but they keep talking to practitioners with the aim of making them renounce their faith. If they fail to “transform” practitioners, the Education Department steps in, or the guards instigate the inmates to torture practitioners.

The prison hospitals are also involved in the persecution. Prison doctors and their assistants (inmates tasked to help the doctors) are in charge of force-feeding practitioners.

Systematic Process of Persecution

Male Falun Gong practitioners, who are sentenced to more than three months by the various courts of Hebei Province, are sent to Jidong Prison and held in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, or 5th divisions.

Before Entering Prison

After practitioners are sentenced, the detention center will first conduct a physical exam and complete certain forms, including a practitioner’s basic information and list of personal items. If the practitioner is not from Tangshan City, the prison will reject all money and personal items sent by his family. Without money, the practitioners can’t buy daily necessities. If they still refuse to “transform,” the prison won’t allow them to meet with or phone their families.

After Prison Admission

Practitioners are first held in the 4th Division after entering the prison. This is known as the Admission Team. The guard place a hood on his head, drag him to a big room, strip him naked and force him to put on the prison uniform. They are also forced to sign a form that states they willingly give up all their personal belongings, including their underwear.

Afterwards, they are sent to different teams and cells. The prison provides prison uniforms and blanket for free, but charges for a wash basin, toothpaste, and a rice bowl.

Practitioners usually stay in the 4th Division for one to two months, and have to undergo a physical exam and have their blood drawn. They also have to memorize the prison rules and learn how to line up. Practitioners are also be pressured to write guarantee statements.

Transfer to Different Cells

After they have completed their time in the Admission Team, practitioners with less than two months remaining on their term will continue to stay in the 4th Division. The rest are sent to various divisions. Most of the practitioners are sent to the 1st, 2nd, 4th, or 5th Division. The 5th Division is well known for being the most brutal.

Forced Labor

After being sent to the 5th Division, practitioners are taken to the workshop and forced to work for at least ten hours a day without pay. They “study” the prison rules or other propaganda materials for half a day once a week, which is considered their rest time. They also have to clean the building and their cells.

“Transformation”

Other than forced labor, practitioners are also subjected to brainwashing. In addition to the above-mentioned denied family visits, calls, or buying daily necessities, their daily meals are also reduced. They are given one bun and porridge for breakfast, two buns and vegetables for lunch, and a bun, vegetables, and porridge for dinner. If their food is reduced by half, they are not given vegetables and porridge. Some practitioners who refuse to “transform” or those who violate the prison rules are sent to solitary confinement, beaten, and otherwise abused.

Specific Torture Methods

In an attempt to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their faith, various torture methods are used. Several common methods are detailed below.

Deprivation of Basic Needs

Some practitioners are not given enough food and water. Some are given only a small bun to eat every day for more than a month and not given any water. They become emaciated and have difficulties walking.

Corporal Abuse

One practitioner was often beaten and he lost a tooth during a beating. To cover up the abuse, his family was not allowed to visit him.

Practitioners are also often handcuffed and shocked with several electric batons concurrently.

Another practitioner had needles pounded through all his fingernails.

Another method used on practitioners is to burn their necks with cigarettes.

Some practitioners are held down while a large bucket of filthy water is poured over them. In serious cases, they are forced to drink the water.

Another similar method is to stuff or tape the mouth shut. One practitioner’s mouth was stuffed with a rag, blocking his windpipe. He stopped breathing for about ten minutes and was revived after CPR was performed on him.

Another common method is to spray a pepper solution in the face and eyes. In serious cases, the skin has peeled off and the practitioner is almost disfigured. Some practitioners were also force-fed with chili water mixed with salt, which burns their mouth, throat, and stomach.

Another practitioner was made to sit on a tiger bench and forced to wear a straitjacket, which made it hard for him to breathe. The straitjacket was removed every 15 minutes for the practitioner to gasp some air. This torture lasted more than seven hours, causing lung congestion and the practitioner vomited blood.

Freezing

Freezing is used during the winter. Practitioners are doused with cold water and exposed to the freezing wind, without winter clothes or blankets. This torture can continue for more than ten days. A practitioner became paralyzed from the waist down and was unable to use his arms or fingers. His legs were severely frostbitten with long-term redness, swelling and numbness. He lost four toenails from his feet being frozen

Solitary Confinement or Strict Management

A practitioner was sent to solitary confinement (also known as strict management) after he shouted “Falun Dafa is good” on March 6, 2018 during a prison meeting.

Once locked in solitary confinement, practitioners are forced to stay in a posture for a long time without moving. One practitioner was locked in solitary confinement more than ten times, for a total for 200 days.

Another practitioner was tied to a bed board for a total of more than two months.

Brainwashing

Practitioners are forced to watch videos and read articles that slander Falun Gong. They are also forced to write how the CCP is good.

Deprivation of Sleep

Falun Gong practitioners are often deprived of sleep as a means of forcing them to renounce their faith.

A practitioner surnamed Zhao was deprived of sleep for more than 20 consecutive days. He refused to renounce his faith and went on a hunger strike for several months. In the hospital, he was handcuffed naked on a bed. His family was informed of his condition only after he was in critical condition. Mr. Zhao died one month after he was released.

In July 2001, an inmate who supported Falun Gong delivered messages between practitioners Mr. Jing Wenwu (from Baoding City) and Mr. Liu Zesheng (from Cangzhou City). All three were sent to solitary confinement, with inmates and guards monitoring them around the clock. They were forced to stand or sit on a small stool motionless for long hours, and were deprived of sleep for several days.

Mr. Fan Qingjun was deprived of sleep for four days straight. He was made to sit on a plank which was only eight inches long, two inches wide, and four inches thick, around the clock. His eyes became swollen, and he had a constant buzzing sound in his ears. He was not able to squat down to defecate. At night, inmates who were assigned to monitor him and kept talking to him to prevent him from sleeping. For a long period of time prior to that, Mr. Fan wasn’t allowed to go to sleep until 1:30 a.m. Even after 1:30 a.m., inmates on night duty poked him every now and then to disrupt his sleep under the pretense that he was talking in his sleep or that they were trying to pull up a quilt to properly cover him. After seven years in Jidong Prison, Mr. Fan suffered from severe insomnia, nervous system problems, loss of memory, headaches, buzzing ears, damaged eyesight, plus arthritic symptoms in his back and legs.

Selected Death Cases

Man Died One Year After Release From Prison

Mr. Li Huimin, 53, of Jizhou City, started practicing Falun Gong in 1995. He was detained for half a month, together with his wife, in July 1999. After his release, the authorities took away his business license and did not allow him to work. The couple was arrested again in March 2000 when they were doing the Falun Gong exercises outdoors.

On June 12, 2000, Mr. Li was arrested for talking to his supervisors about Falun Gong. He was later sentenced to five years and held at Jidong Prison.

In August and September 2001, Jidong Prison escalated their efforts to persecute Falun Gong practitioners detained there. Since Mr. Li resisted the persecution, the guards placed him in a small cell. Two prison officers, Zhang Fuliang and Li Junlu, incited the inmates to whip and beat Mr. Li on his eyes with a newspaper. They applied mentholated ointment to his eyes, which was very painful, and wouldn’t let him sleep. He was kept in handcuffs. Despite this brutal treatment, Mr. Li refused to give up his belief in Falun Dafa.

On December 13, 2001, in order to force Mr. Li to write the guarantee statements, guards Chen Xijiao and Li Junlu again placed Mr. Li in the small cell. There was no heat in the small cell, and Mr. Li had to sleep on the floor. He was handcuffed, and whenever he went to the toilet there were four or five prisoners with him. When he returned to cell, the prisoners would remove Mr. Li’s shirt and pants, claiming that they were searching him.

One day, when Mr. Li refused to eat, a guard named Lu shoved a piece of steamed cornbread into Mr. Li’s mouth. They pinched Mr. Li's nose so that he could barely breathe. That time, the authorities had jailed Mr. Li for more than two weeks. All he was given to eat each day was a piece of bread and a piece of pickle about two centimeters square.

When Mr. Li was released, he was vomiting while on his way home. He later developed symptoms of severe dizziness. He suddenly fainted on February 2, 2006, and was diagnosed with a brainstem hemorrhage. He passed away on February 5, 2006.

35-year-old Man Persecuted to Death

Mr. Chen Aili, of Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong on December 29, 2000, and was arrested on January 1, 2001. He was sentenced to two years on July 17, 2001 and admitted to Jidong Prison.

For eleven days, Mr. Chen was handcuffed to a chair and not allowed sleep. His buttocks went numb and lost all feeling. An inmate was instructed to tie his arms and hang him up for an entire day, with his feet barely supporting his weight, causing his feet to swell up. Later that night, without giving him any time to recover from the previous torture, the guards handcuffed each of his hands to the handle of a different door. Then a few prisoners were ordered to push the doors open. He felt his arms tearing away from him, and he went into convulsions with all his muscles cramping up from the pain. The guards instructed the inmates to slap him, hit him, force-feed him, and use various torture tools on him. After six days, a guard took off his shoe and used it to slap Mr. Chen in the face.

Mr. Chen was later locked in an empty room and beaten up. He was also shocked with electric batons and the perpetrators spat in his face. Inmates burned his eyes with a lighter and poured scalding water on his head. He was later taken to the hospital in severe condition. He was not given any results from the medical tests.

Mr. Chen was on a hunger strike when he developed a high fever and had blood in his stool. Then the prison wanted to quickly release him. He was released in January 2003 but was under house arrest along with his family. Even though he was extremely weak, Mr. Chen managed to escape surveillance and went into hiding on July 9, 2004. His health continued to decline while he was on the run. He passed away on November 5, 2004.

41-year-old Farmer Persecuted to Death

Mr. Wang Gang, a farmer, was arrested in 2003 and later sentenced to ten years in prison in 2004. He served time in Baoding City Prison and Jidong Prison.

In the Baoding City Prison, Mr. Wang was tied up in a spread-eagle position in solitary confinement. He was not allowed to talk and was given very little water to drink. The torture caused necrosis in the bone, muscles, and blood vessels in his right leg, requiring an amputation.

In order to cover up the crime, Baoding City Prison transferred Mr. Wang to Jidong Prison. The Jidong Prison released Mr. Wang in May 2009 when he was close to death, but met strong objection by his local police. Mr. Wang was taken back to the prison.

Mr. Wang was diagnosed with late-stage lymphoma on October 14, 2009, and the prison finally released him. He died on October 31, 2009. The Village Party secretary forced his family to bury him the next day.

Ashes of Man Cremated After Death Were Charcoal Black, Family Suspects He Was Poisoned

Mr. Chen Baihe of Tangshan City was arrested on May 13, 2006 for handing out Falun Gong informational materials. He was sentenced to four years in January 2007 and later sent to Jidong Prison.

Due to torture in prison, Mr. Chen experienced dangerously high blood pressure. The prison hospital gave him some medicine, which didn’t bring his blood pressure down, but instead caused him to feel itchy all over. He also experienced vision decline, particularly in the left eye. His went completely blind in the left eye in the summer of 2009.

When Mr. Chen was released in May 2010, he struggled with constant fatigue and sleepiness, slow response, memory loss, and weak legs. He also had red moles on his chest, and the skin on his back turned dark. Beginning in July 2012, he lost virtually all of his memory within two months and suffered from speech dysphasia.

Mr. Chen collapsed in the early morning of September 17, 2012. He was unconscious for 22 hours with a high fever before he stopped breathing. When his body was cremated, the staffers at the crematorium were shocked to see that his ashes were charcoal black. They said, “His bones are so dark. He must have been poisoned!”

Man Develops Serious Medical Condition in Prison, Dies Seven Years After Release

Mr. Li Zhifa, 67, a resident of Cangzhou City, was arrested on July 27, 2001 and sentenced to seven years on August 16, 2002. He was transferred to Jidong Prison in September 2002.

During his years in the prison, Mr. Li’s health was unstable. By the end of 2006, his health had noticeably deteriorated. His body twitched, his face was pale, and his limbs contracted and were as cold as ice. He would break out in cold sweats. The guards sent him to the prison hospital and forbade his family from visiting him.

Mr. Li’s mother was in her 80s. Worrying about her son, she traveled 130 miles by herself to the prison to visit him. But the guards at the hospital denied her request to see Mr. Li.

Mr. Li developed high blood pressure and brain atrophy and had a cerebral infraction and a seizure in prison. He was released on July 4, 2008, 23 days before the end of his term.

At home, Mr. Li shook uncontrollably, his face was pale, and his limbs remained contracted and icy cold. He said that there was something wrong with his brain. He had no strength, and he couldn’t find his way home when he went out. He died on September 30, 2015.

Man in Vegetative State Dies Two Months Before Prison Release

Mr. Lai Zhiqiang, in his 50s, was a bus driver from Tangshan City. He was arrested on March 31, 2016 and secretly sentenced to seven years. He was taken to Jidong Prison. His wife waited seven long years, eager to reunite with him, only to learn on January 3, 2023, that he had died two months before his scheduled release.

Mr. Lai’s wife rushed to Jidong Prison after learning of his death, only to be told that she had to pay 1,000 yuan to see his body. While it’s not clear whether or not she paid the 1,000 yuan, she wasn’t allowed to see his body until the next day.

According to Mr. Lai’s wife, his body was curled up and his face had been injured. Five guards held her back to keep her from getting close to or touching him. They refused to return his body to the family and deceived his daughter into signing a consent form to have him cremated.