The brainwashing center states publicly, "Once you are here, only three roads remain for you: one is to be 'transformed' (renounce and defame Falun Gong), two is to be sent to a mental hospital, and three is to be sentenced to a forced labor camp."
Retiree Forced into Brainwashing Center
On June 9, 2009, Ms. Peng Xiaomei, a retiree from the Branch of China Construction Bank in Hunan Province, was illegally arrested by Liuzheng Street Police Station in Changsha City. Without any legal representation or judicial protocol, Ms. Peng was taken to Changsha City Law Education and Training Center (a brainwashing center) located in Laodaohe Town, Kaifu District, Changsha City.
Ms. Peng has been a Falun Gong practitioner for many years. For clarifying the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong, especially exposing the staged "self-immolation" case in Tiananmen Square, she has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party. Over the last ten years, Ms. Peng has endured much harassment and numerous arrests at the hands of the local authorities.
After Ms. Peng's arrest, the 610 Office ordered her former employer, China Construction Bank, to send two people to monitor her. When the bank refused, Ms. Peng's husband was apprehended and forced to be her monitor. As a result, Ms. Peng's elderly father and young daughter now have no one to support them.
The brainwashing center was set up by the Changsha City's 610 Office in November 2002. Since then, many Falun Gong practitioners who've been forced out of their homes and farmers who've been deprived of their land have been imprisoned there. Many of their families or employers are forced to pay huge sums of money to the center. When the center first opened, every practitioner had to pay 7,000 yuan in "brainwashing fees" per month. Rent and food also cost 120 yuan per day, and a protection fee ranges between 50 to 60 yuan per day.
The center states publicly, "Once you are here, only three roads remain for you: one is to be 'transformed' (renounce and defame Falun Gong), two is to be sent to a mental hospital, and three is to be sentenced to a forced labor camp."
Practitioner Tang Min from Changsha was sent to Hunan Provincial Mental Hospital (now renamed the 2nd People's Hospital of Hunan Province), and injected against her will with nerve-damaging drugs, which caused suffering both physically and psychologically. Zhang Junjie, Li Zhihong, and other practitioners from Changsha City were sent to Baimalong Women's Labor Camp or the newly opened Kaipu Labor Camp.
Other practitioners working at the Branch of China Construction Bank in Hunan Province have also been persecuted. Ms. Li Nan from the Operating Department was illegally sent to the Hunan Provincial Mental Hospital. Mr. Zhou Guanghua from the Planning Department was also sentenced to a forced labor camp.