(Minghui.org) Over the years, the Gongzhuling Prison of Jilin Province has been actively involved in the unlawful persecution of Falun Gong practitioners while flagrantly violating China's Constitution and laws.
At present, nearly 100 practitioners from the regions of Yanbian, Jilin, Changchun and Baishan are still being held in Gongzhuling Prison. Prison guards have taken away the practitioners' legitimate rights. The following exposes some of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in recent years in Gongzhuling Prison.
1. Food for detainees in the prison lacks nutrition, and detainees are often forced to eat expired rotten rice by the prison authorities. Normally, steamed bread, rice, and congee are served in the prison. In the summer, noodles are occasionally provided and considered a treat. Dumplings are served on Chinese New Year. The stale rice is moldy and has a pungent, musty odor. This kind of rice is normally fed to livestock. The food served in the prison is not sanitary, and no oil is used in the cooking. During winter and spring, bok choy and potato (or turnip) soup is served, and the vegetables are often rotten. On Tuesday and Friday, chicken bones are cooked with potatoes (or vegetables) and mixed with a few pieces of fat pork. After the food is assigned, everyone gets only a tiny bit of it. The bulletin board of the reception room states, “Four kinds of pickles are served for breakfast, and a few hot dishes are served for lunch and dinner.” This is simply not true and is meant to deceive visitors.
2. Necessities are sold inside the prison but are limited in variety and very expensive. Prices are roughly double of what they are outside the prison. The detainees' monthly salary is just enough to buy one piece of soap. Because of limitations placed on the prisoners being able to buy things, going to the prison market even once a month is difficult. Sometimes the detainees can't get toilet paper. Family visits are limited, and they are not allowed to bring certain groceries, so as to increase profits for the prison. Practitioners often have to borrow money for basic necessities from each other.
3. Unlawful forced labor also takes place. According to rules and regulations, detainees are entitled to take a one or two days break from work in a week. In order to maximize profits, guards in Gongzhuling Prison force detainees to work overtime. It is common for detainees to work 12 hours every day. Sometimes, especially during the end of the year, guards force detainees to work even more. Some supervision units have forced detainees to work for 20 hours a day for stretches. Many practitioners have refused to perform forced labor.
Mr. Zhao Guoxing, a practitioner held in the first supervision unit, was threatened by captain Li Wanjian for refusing to work. Another practitioner, Lin Chunzhi, was shocked with high-voltage electric batons by prison instructors for not cooperating with the guards.
Long-term malnutrition, mental stress, and high-intensity forced labor have emaciated detainees and disease has become prevalent. Because the prison hospital is often overcrowded, the number of deaths frequently exceeds what is “allowed” for the year. In 2010, the director of the prison hospital, who was fired because of the high death toll, complained, “Malnutrition caused the spread of tuberculosis. How could I have prevent that?” Practitioners Lin Chunzhi and Liu Yanlong developed tuberculosis after being held in the prison for two years. They were both on the verge of death, but the prison authorities still refused to release them. Practitioner Zhang Weixi, who was imprisoned for many years, was released on medical parole. But he was quickly returned to the prison when his health got better. Practitioners from other supervision units such as Xu Huijian, Kong Weihua, Zheng Fengxiang, Pan Zhiming, and Sun Zhen were hospitalized with tuberculosis. Practitioner Chen Liandong was hospitalized with hepatitis.
4. The prison authorities have set many restrictions on family visitation. Everyone knows that the “high walls” of Chinese prisons are a veritable hell on earth. The greatest hope for detainees is to see their families. In Gongzhuling Prison, there are even more restrictions on practitioners' family visits than normal. They must “guarantee” that they are not Falun Gong practitioners, and have to obtain approval from the local 610 Office in order to see them.
5. Prison officials, including the warden, captain, instructors, and squadron leaders, offer to “take care” of detainees for a price ranging from 500 to 5,000 yuan a year. On the other hand, if a detainee violates the rules, he or his family is forced to pay several hundred yuan. Zhou Pingze, an instructor from one of the supervision units, blatantly stole a new detainee's money. One day, a detainee's mother (67 years old) came to see her son. A prison guard claimed he was her son's instructor, and asked her to pay him 600 yuan to help him. After he took the money, he disappeared and was never heard from again.
6. New detainees are thrown into cells by prison guards for persecution. In recent years, in order to intimidate new detainees, prison guards in Gongzhuling Prison throw them into a solitary cell for about a month. This is clearly illegal, as solitary cells are meant as a short term punishment for wrongdoing by the prisoner.
7. Prison police have tried to destroy Falun Gong practitioners both physically and mentally. They restrict practitioners from corresponding with their families, order collaborators to monitor them, and try to forcibly “transform” them. In 2009, Mr. Fu Hongwei, a practitioner from the first supervision unit, tried to clarify the facts about Falun Gong and convinced a newly transferred inmate to quit the CCP. But this inmate later reported on Mr. Fu, and as a result, Wang Jinglong sent him to the solitary cell for severe persecution. In 2010, practitioner Mr. Zhao Guoxing was concerned about Mr. Liu Yanlong's health, and went to chat with him for a few minutes. Wang Jinglong found out and threw him into a cold solitary cell where he was persecuted for a month.
The third supervision unit is the most brutal place that persecutes Falun Gong practitioners. The most desperate and despicable police officer that persecutes practitioners is Zhang Yaquan. He has traveled from one prison to another in order to slander Falun Gong. He has co-authored a few books with his wife, Song Jianfeng, which slandered and demonized Falun Gong. A self-proclaimed expert in psychology, Zhang uses a slew of fallacies to try to “transform” practitioners. In one moment, he says that he is a steadfast CCP partisan. In another, he says that he is a devout Buddhist. Then he claims to be a defender of science. He routinely takes Falun Dafa's teachings out of context and twists words to shake practitioners' belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
If lies and tricks don't work, Zhang resorts to torture to “transform” practitioners. When practitioner Mr. Zheng Fengxiang, who was newly admitted to the Gongzhuling Prison, refused to listen to Zhang's fallacies and tried to reason with him, Zhang made him stand in a military pose until his legs were swollen. Because of the financial incentives associated with getting a practitioner to give up his belief, Zhang stops at nothing to achieve his ends.
In the summer of 2010, the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in Gongzhuling Prison reached a peak. During the daytime, prison police sent steadfast practitioners to the “education center” to watch brainwashing videos that slandered Falun Gong. They forced practitioners to sit on a two-inch bench. As soon as they slid a bit from the bench, prison police would order inmates to hit and shock them with electric batons. When practitioners returned to their supervision units at night, prison police ordered inmates to monitor them and deprive them of sleep. Some practitioners were shocked with electric batons and deprived of sleep for over a month. Practitioner Mr. Cai Fuchen, who tried to stop the prison police from persecuting other practitioners, tragically died of tortures in Gongzhuling Prison.
If practitioners still don't give up their faith by the time their prison terms are due, the prison authorities will inform the local 610 Office and the public security organs to come and pick them up, to take them directly to labor camps for continued persecution.