(Clearwisdom.net)
At the forced labor camp, we were forced to perform many backbreaking tasks, such as planting grass and trees, collecting garbage, digging underground storage areas, knitting sweaters, knitting seat cushions, making toys, making disposable syringes, and packaging disposable chopsticks, etc. We usually began to work as soon as we got out of bed at 5:30 a.m., and were forced to work till 2 to 3 o'clock the next morning. We sometimes were forced to work through the whole night to meet the work quota. At times when it was really busy, I couldn't even wash my hands after I went to the bathroom. The long hours of labor intensive work resulted in severe sleep deprivation. Most products we made were for export and the processing fee was paid to the labor camp. We did not receive any pay.
The forced labor camp resorted to many different kinds of inhuman methods, such as extending the sentence, solitary confinement, intensive brainwashing, electric shock, prohibiting sleep, beating, physical abuse, and exhausting practitioner's physical strength, etc, to force us to sign the guarantee statement of giving up practicing Falun Dafa. They disallowed visits from family, purchasing of basic commodities, using the toilet and toilet paper. They also incited other inmates to hate us and to cause trouble for us. They used our family members to pressure us, and they forced us to read and watch slanderous materials.
The first large group of Falun Gong practitioners at the forced labor camp was sent to the previous location of the women's labor camp on May 26, 2000. The women and men's labor camps switched locations on July 2, 2000. From May 26 to July 2, for the period of over one month, these practitioners were forced to stand facing the wall in the hallway nightly after all other inmates had gone to bed. These practitioners were not allowed to sleep until 4:00 am, and they were roused again at 5:00 am. During the day, they had to dig large holes as deep as a person's height for planting trees. They were allowed only one hour of sleep a day for over a month. While forced to stand in the hallway at night, they often fell asleep, which made their heads hit the wall.
The police often used electric batons to force practitioners to write the guarantee statements. The worst torture was when the police stood on top of one's body, holding one side of the head in the mud, and at the same time shocking the person with seven or eight electric batons. For example, the police used four electric batons to shock Ms. Liu Shengpin, a fifty-year old practitioner from Beijing,. Ms. Liu was on the ground with four or five policemen standing on top of her. The electric current, however, was so strong that her body still jerked uncontrollably off the ground. The front and back of her body was covered with burning marks left by the electric batons.
The so-called "intensive training group" was a prison within the prison. It was a special kind of solitary confinement. Dialy, for over ten hours, the person was being confined standing in a room of 3 to 4 square meters in size. Practitioner Ms. Wang Ruirong was still placed in solitary confinement, even after having been tortured through electric shocks. At that time, Ms. Wang's head swelled, her hair fell out, and her face became unrecognizable.
Six Falun Gong practitioners were sent to the men's labor camp (Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp) in December 2000. They were Zhao Ming, student of Trinity College in Ireland, Huang Jian, Li Wanqin, Zhang Dexiu of Beijing, and Zhu Xuanwu from the Northeast (the last practitioner's name is unknown). They endured every imaginable type of torture at Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp, but they still refused to write the guarantee statement. Finally, the police sent them to Xinan Forced Labor Camp.
At Xinan Forced Labor Camp, these practitioners were imprisoned with a group of juveniles. These juveniles were between thirteen and eighteen years old. The police forced these juveniles to monitor the practitioners. They also separated the six practitioners and would not allow them to communicate or meet with each other. One time, a boy helped to pass a note between the practitioners and was caught by the police. The boy was shocked with an electric baton. These boys were allowed monthly visits from their parents. In order to prevent the parents from finding out that the boy was being tortured, the police put the electric baton into his mouth to shock him. The boy was having difficulty eating and speaking after being shocked.
In order to force Falun Gong practitioners to write the guarantee statements, the police often encouraged other inmates to beat us. Sometimes, they even watched with their arms folded. On November 18, 2000, the team leader of No. 2 Team Wang Zhaofeng just stood by the door watching Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Shuying being beaten by Zhong Xianghong in the team leader's office.
Half yearly, the labor camp held a performance review. Thirty percent of the inmates were given the opportunity to achieve reduced sentences. Falun Gong practitioners were not allowed to participate in this. But the inmates knew that if they could force a practitioner to write a guarantee statement, they might receive extra benefits. In order to secure early release or to please the police, some inmates tortured practitioners mentally. For example, a drug addict locked practitioner Ms. Li Yunying (over 40 years old) in a maintenance room and splashed her with over fifty buckets of cold water. The addict also severely beat Li to the point that she couldn't even stand straight for many days. Ms. Li Fulan, who was over fifty years old, was not allowed to use the toilet for three days and three nights. Three other practitioners, He Lin, Hou Liwei, and Sun Hong, were jailed together with the No. 1 Team, which were mainly drug addicts. They were forced to stand in the hallway with a bowl of water on top of their heads. If they spilled only a minute amount of the water, they would be scolded or beaten. At the transfer department or labor camp, one could often see Falun Gong practitioners with blue and purple bruises on their faces.
Since October 2000, the labor camp employed more brutal and more inhuman methods to force Falun Gong practitioners to write the guarantee statements. As soon as a practitioner arrived, he/she would be required to write the guarantee statement. Those who refused to do so would not be allowed to sleep. At Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp, Beijing practitioner Huang Jian was not allowed to sleep for twelve days and twelve nights straight. In addition to not allowing sleep, those who refused to write the guarantee statements were also subjected to beating, physical abuse, and personal attacks. The police used some inmates to continuously speak slanderous words against Falun Gong and its founder to the practitioners. By breaking down a practitioner's determination through applying unbelievable physical and psychological pressure, the police would reach their goal of having the practitioner write the guarantee statement. At Xinan Forced Labor Camp where I was jailed, there was a target "transform rate" of 95%. If this target was not met, the responsible police officer(s) would be fined, demoted, or even fired.
Every minute in the labor camp, starting from the moment we arrived, we were under enormous pressure to write the guarantee statement to give up Falun Gong. The very first night I was sent to Xinan Forced Labor Camp (July 7, 2000), a unit leader Zhang Ruiming, a Team leader Sun Hui and another officer "talked" with me, one after the other, to force me to write the guarantee statement.
We got up at 5:30 am every morning. We either had to do backbreaking work or be forced to listen to materials that slandered Falun Gong and insulted us. After listening to these "educational materials", we had to write reports and discuss our "understanding" with the police.
(To be continued)
For Parts 1 and 2, please see
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/10/16/41314.html
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/10/23/41549.html