(Clearwisdom.net) In early April 2004, the Jilin Prison rampantly persecuted Falun Dafa practitioners. The prison staff gave a dozen prison guards the prisoners' uniforms to wear. They were pretending to be Falun Dafa practitioners. Each of them held a wooden stick in their hand and started to smash the iron gate. They yelled, "We have not committed any crime, we want to be released." At the same time, the prison education department (Tackle the Fort Office) video-taped the whole process. They said that Falun Gong practitioners were planning to bomb and disturb the prison. A list of crimes were deceitfully added to Falun Gong practitioners charges. After fabricating the evidence, the prison reported to the Jilin Prison Management Bureau, Jilin Judicial Department and the Provincial Party Committee. They claimed that "Falun Gong practitioners in Jilin Prison are planning to bomb the prison. The recorded video is provided as evidence. A decision from our superior is requested." It was in fact used to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. When the order of persecution arrived, the prison guards started a more severe and unbridled attack towards Falun Gong practitioners.
On the day following the report, the Jilin Prison started to renovate the abandoned detention cells. There are six small rooms in total. Each room has a fixed bed to tie practitioners (also called a "Dead Man's Bed"). One week later, they started locking up people to persecute them. The steadfast practitioners were sent there and their bodies were tied onto the bed. They had to eat and urinate on the bed. The thugs used various ways to persecute practitioners. There was a discussion among the prisons about how to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners. The first group of practitioners who were sent to the Dead Man's Bed were Zhang Wen, Zhang Weixin, Yang Junsheng, Shi Wenfeng and Lei Ming.
Lei Ming was twice placed under "strict control" in the Jilin Prison. The first "strict control" lasted three months. He was locked on the Dead Man's Bed (the bed is flexible, it can be extended in length until the person on the bed loses his limbs). Lei Ming's body was stretched. His feet became disabled and he then walked with a limp.
On March 20, 2004, Lei Ming was again sent to the Dead Man's Bed. He firmly believed in Falun Dafa and didn't yield. The prison guards locked him up for more than six months. After Lei Ming was released from the detention cell, his life was in great danger. He was released on bail for medical treatment. Prison guard Li from the education department is the prime person who persecuted Lei Ming. The thugs, Sun Zhigang and Ding Zhaosong were the accomplices. Many practitioners' lives were in imminent danger, some died soon after they were released. Lei Ming died on August 6, 2006.
Practitioner Zhang Wen from Changchun was sentenced after the "March 15 Cable TV Tapping." He was sent to the Third Team of the Fifth Division of Jinlin Prison to be persecuted in December 2002. On the day he was sent to the prison, prison guard Zhang Jianhua instigated several thugs to beat Zhang Wen, whose feet became limp for more than a month. Later,one thug told practitioners, "I had to listen to the prison guard in order to gain points and reduce my sentence. You must sit on the board every day. You are not allowed to talk to anyone. If you break these rules, I must hit you." In May 2003, Zhang Wen was called into the office for writing an appeal letter to prison guard Zhang Jianhua. He was told that Falun Gong practitioners are not allowed to appeal, as practitioners do not have this right. They asked him to take the appeal back and promise not to appeal anymore. Otherwise, he would be placed under strict control. Zhang Wen insisted that he had committed no crime by appealing. Prison guards Lin Yubin and Zhang Jianhua sent Zhang Wen to the "Strict Control Division." Zhang Wen neither gave in nor cooperated with them. He was released from the strict division after he was locked up for more than six months. They transferred him to the Second Division in November. In April 2004, he was again locked up in the detention cell to be tortured on the Dead Man's Bed. Zhang Wen's heel was deeply cut by the iron caliper that was used to tie him. It made him bleed and limp.
Practitioner Zheng Weidong is from Jiutai City, Changchun Province. He was illegally sentenced and sent to the Second Team of the Fifth Division in May 2002. In October 2002, prison guard Guo Donghu instigated thugs lead by Liu You and Shi Jingyu to beat Zheng Weidong, who didn't listen to or cooperate with them. The practitioner who sat behind Zheng Weidong tried to stop them by saying, "Do not hit people, it is illegal to beat someone." As soon as he finished his sentence, he was beaten on the ground. After they finished beating him, the prison guards gave an admonitory talk and again threatened everyone. They authorized the thugs to beat practitioners if they do not listen. Then prison guards Lin Yubin, Guo Dongbiao and the other thugs decided to move Zheng Weidong to the ground. They forced him to sit on the ground and deprived him of sleep for 24 hours. At about 4:00 a.m. on the morning of the eighth day, when Zheng Weidong went to use the toilet, he started to ram himself against the heater, in protest against the persecution. After his wound was dressed and the bleeding stopped, the torture continued. He was again sent to the Dead Man's Bed until his body nearly gave up. The Jilin Prison constructed fixed beds in every team in order to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners. At the end of February 2004, he was transferred to Siping with a large group of people.
On Chinese New Year's Eve in 2005, one prisoner was stretched to death on the fixed bed. This is not uncommon. Thugs Sun Zhigang and Ding Zhaoshong removed the dead body from the fixed bed to a stretcher. They carried the dead body to the hospital and claimed that this person had died even though every attempt was made to rescue him. Many people in Jilin Prison died in this manner.
