(Minghui.org) A 65-year-old woman in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, completed an eight-year prison term on April 19, 2026, only to be taken straight to a brainwashing center.
Ms. Hou Mila’s family arrived at the Hubei Province Women’s Prison early that morning, eager to pick her up. After they walked inside, they saw Ms. Hou was in a car from the Yusunshan Brainwashing Center, which is located in Jianghan District, Wuhan City.
Nearly 20 people from the prison, the brainwashing center, and Ms. Hou’s local street committee swarmed her family, preventing them from getting close to her. They claimed that they were following higher-ups' orders to take her to the brainwashing center.
After over 30 minutes of a standoff, Ms. Hou was driven away by the brainwashing center staff.
Ms. Hou’s ordeal began on April 19, 2018, when she was arrested with her sister, Ms. Hou Aila, and her brother-in-law, Mr. Hong Weisheng, because they practice Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. All three of them were sentenced to prison in mid-September 2019. The Hou sisters were each given eight years and were fined 40,000 yuan, and Mr. Hong was sentenced to ten years and was fined 50,000 yuan. See the first related report for details of the arrests and trial.
The three family members’ appeals were rejected. Mr. Hong was then admitted to the Fanjiatai Prison, Ms. Hou Mila was sent to the Hubei Province Women’s Prison, and her sister was sent to the Hankou Prison.
On March 9, 2026, the prison notified Ms. Hou Mila’s family that she could not go home when her term ended on April 19 and that they must wait for further notice.
Her family still went to the prison on April 19, but were unsuccessful in taking her home. It is unclear when Ms. Hou will be released from the brainwashing center.
Ms. Hou took up Falun Gong in 1996 and recovered from her decades-long Hepatitis B. After the communist regime started persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999, she held firm to her faith and was repeatedly targeted.
She appealed for the right to practice Falun Gong and was detained for 15 days in late December 1999. She was forced to do hard labor every day while she was detained.
Two officers seized Ms. Hou on December 21, 2000, and took her to a rehabilitation center affiliated with the Wuhan City Police Department. After she was detained there for two weeks, she was transferred to the Wuhan City First Detention Center. Another one and a half years later, she was given two years of forced labor.
Ms. Hou’s arrest on April 19, 2018, was followed by an eight-year prison term. She didn’t regain freedom after her prison term ended. Instead, she was taken straight to a brainwashing center.
Ms. Hou Aila’s daughter was not allowed to visit her even once during her imprisonment because the two do not share the same household registration per the prison’s visitation policy (by law, an inmate can have anyone visit them). The prison did say Ms. Hou’s brother could visit her since the siblings are on the same household registration book, but he was never able to due to his poor health.
Ms. Hou has only been allowed to write a few letters home. She said in the letters that her legs were weak and she couldn’t stand for long. Her term is set to end on May 16, 2026. Her husband Mr. Hong’s term will end in April 2028, and it is unclear whether their daughter was ever allowed to visit him in prison.
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