Torture Methods Used on Falun Gong Practitioners in Zhejiang Province Women’s Prison

(Minghui.org) The Zhejiang Province Women’s Prison has been involved in the persecution of female Falun Gong practitioners since the Chinese communist regime started the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999. Various torture methods, including solitary confinement, sleep deprivation and forced administration of drugs are used in attempts to force the practitioners to renounce their faith. Two practitioners, Ms. Hong Misu and Ms. Zhang Mingyi, were persecuted to death at this prison.

When practitioners are admitted to the prison, they are taken to cells with thick curtains, deprived of sleep, and not allowed to leave the cells or wash themselves. Inmates are arranged to monitor them around the clock. In addition to the physical torture, the practitioners have to watch propaganda materials smearing Falun Gong and write guarantee statements to renounce their faith. They are also forced to take unknown drugs.

To increase the “transformation” rate, the prison chooses inmates serving the longest terms to persecute the practitioners, with the incentive of term reductions. The prison also published a book with disinformation to slander Falun Gong.

The guards who were actively involved in the persecution include: Xu Jianling, Chen Jun, Zhang Weili, Yu Yichi, Wang Xinyan, Wang Yingying, Chen Da, Shi Min, Jiang Ying, Sun Xin, Yu Yue, Sun Zhe, Zheng Haiying, Zhang Yin, Zhang Jiawen, Zhu Meihua (already retired), Zhang Su, and Xu Hui.

Below are selected cases of practitioners who have been persecuted in the prison:

Woman Died as a Result of Brutal Treatment in Zhejiang Women's Prison

Ms. Zhang Mingyi, of Jilin City, Jilin Province, was formerly employed as a test analysis technician by the Jilin Chemical Factory. She used to suffer from all sorts of ailments, but after she began cultivating Falun Gong in 1995, she became a very healthy and open-minded person. Because the company was going out of business, she was laid off and went to Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province in 2004 for a work opportunity. 

For talking to the locals about the persecution of Falun Gong, Ms. Zhang was reported and sentenced to two years. She was tortured and injected with unknown drugs at the Zhejiang Province Women’s Prison. Her health deteriorated due to the long term brutal treatment. She was constantly feverish, emaciated and extremely weak. The prison administration didn't want to be held responsible for her death, so they released her early.

After returning home, Ms. Zhang had a fever all the time, and purple marks appeared on her body. The doctor diagnosed her with hemolytic anemia, hepatitis B and C, and tests showed a shadow on her pancreas. She died on August 29, 2007, at only 34 years old.

Zhejiang Woman Dies While Serving Third Prison Term for Her Faith

Ms. Hong Misu, a Falun Gong practitioner from Wenling City, Zhejiang Province died on August 15, 2018, while serving a three-year-and-nine-month term at the Zhejiang Province Women’s Prison. She was 52.

Ms. Hong Misu

Ms. Hong’s latest arrest took place in November 2015 after she was reported to police for talking to people about the persecution on the street. She was sentenced to three years and nine months by the Luqiao District Court in Taizhou City on May 24, 2016.

Ms. Hong’s death was a tragic end to years of persecution for practicing Falun Gong. She was arrested a total of eight times and saw her home ransacked on multiple occasions. She was given two years of forced labor in late 2000 and sentenced three times to prison in 2005, 2011, and 2016, respectively, for a total of ten years and three months.

Model Worker Sentenced Three Times for Her Faith

Ms. Tang Baozhi, 72, from Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, was once a model worker. After the Chinese communist regime started the persecution of Falun Gong, she went to Beijing to appeal in November 1999, only to be arrested and sentenced to 3.5 years.

Ms. Tang was arrested again in 2005 and sentenced to five years. At the Zhejiang Province Woman’s Prison, she went on a hunger strike for nearly 700 days. After her release, she lived in Shanghai with her children.

Ms. Tang and her daughter were arrested on May 5, 2017, after they were reported to the police for talking to people about Falun Gong on the street. Both women were sentenced to two and a half years.

Targeted in a Police Sweep, 70-year-old Woman Gets Three Years for Her Faith

Ms. Ying Guofang, a 70-year-old Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province resident was taken to the Zhejiang Province Women’s Prison on November 6, 2020, to serve a three-year term for her faith in Falun Gong.

Ms. Ying was seized by the police on April 18, 2019, in a group arrest of more than 20 Falun Gong practitioners. She suffered dangerously high blood pressure and elevated blood sugar levels at the Ningbo City Detention Center. Her family requested her release on bail, but the police refused their requests and told them that it was impossible to release her before the communist regime’s 70th National Day on October 1, unless she was on the brink of death.

Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison and Abused

Ms. Zhou Weifen, of Jinyun County, Zhejiang Province was arrested on July 10, 2009 and sentenced to nine years in April 2010. 

While being detained in the Zhejiang Province Women’s Prison, Ms. Zhou was put in solitary confinement and forbidden to talk to other inmates there. She was also monitored by the inmates.

Woman Force-fed Psychotropic Drugs in Zhejiang Province Women's Prison

Ms. Zhang Xiulian, in her 40s, was sentenced to ten years in prison in the Zhejiang Province Women’s Prison. She refused to renounce Falun Gong and was categorized as mentally ill by the prison. Each month, three or four inmates would kneel on her body while forcibly injecting sedatives and psychiatric drugs into her. Her family members were not allowed to visit her. She was not allowed to buy anything, including underwear or shoes. She was also not allowed to talk to anyone and was often punished by being forced to stand for long periods of time. Ms. Zhang was persecuted to the point of mental disability.