(Minghui.org) When Ms. Duan Guixiu’s daughter visited her at the Shandong Province Women’s Prison on September 5, 2024, Ms. Duan was wheeled into the meeting room. Her body kept jerking, and she vomited repeatedly. Her daughter couldn’t believe that her once healthy mother was in this condition only months after she was sent to prison on December 27, 2023.
Ms. Duan, of Qingdao City, Shandong Province, was sentenced to three years on March 17, 2023, for mailing a letter to the new local police chief, urging him not to persecute Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been targeted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Immediately after Ms. Duan’s conviction, the bailiff took her to the Huangdao District People’s Hospital for a physical examination. She was found to have extremely high blood pressure (systolic pressure at 258 mmHg when the normal level is 120 or lower).
The next day (March 18, 2023), officer Yu Haigang of the Yinzhu Police Station took Ms. Duan to the Qingdao City Second Detention Center. She was found to have a systolic blood pressure reading of 200 and was taken to the Haici Hospital for another physical examination. The doctor examined her and said she had high blood pressure and a severe heart condition. Despite this, Yu took her back to the detention center and forced her to take high blood pressure pills. After her blood pressure temporarily dropped, he managed to persuade the detention center to admit her even though the center did not want to.
Ms. Duan’s daughter later visited director Liu of the detention center and demanded to see her mother’s medical records from when she was admitted. Liu became angry, refused to provide anything and asked how she found his office.
Ms. Duan later told her daughter that she was forced to take medicine at the detention center. A director surnamed Liu once threatened to give her IV drips if she refused to take the pills they provided. Sometimes they added the drugs to her food without telling her. She experienced some side effects afterwards, which added to the pressure she felt.
After the appeals court ruled to uphold Ms. Duan’s original verdict, she was transferred to the Shandong Province Women’s Prison on December 27, 2023. Her daughter went to the prison twice in January 2024 to visit her, but both times she was not allowed to see her. The prison also did not allow her to call Ms. Duan. They claimed that Ms. Duan was doing well and asked the daughter not to worry about her.
The daughter called the government’s hotline (+86-531-12345) to file a complaint and was allowed to call Ms. Duan. Over the phone, she felt Ms. Duan was under enormous pressure and it was urgent that she see her.
When the daughter was finally allowed to see Ms. Duan on February 22, 2024, two months after her prison admission, her physical and mental condition had significantly declined, compared to their last meeting at the detention center on December 20, 2023. She was brought to the visitation room in a wheelchair.
She looked as if she'd aged 20 years: her eyes were dull, and she looked exhausted and fearful. She had to place her hand on the wall to steady herself while she walked and she walked very slowly and with tremendous difficulty. Her legs were swollen, her eyes were also swollen and had dark circles, and one of her teeth was missing.
Ms. Duan’s daughter encouraged her to say whether she was abused there. As soon as the daughter said the word “abuse,” the guard who was standing near Ms. Duan asked her, “Has anyone abused you here?”
Ms. Duan immediately answered, “No, no.”
Ms. Duan’s daughter asked about her blood pressure. She said the guards never told her the numbers. But she suspected that her blood pressure must be very high, as even the slightest movement made her dizzy.
During the daughter’s second visit on March 7, 2024, she was ordered to go downstairs to repeat the security check. After the visit, a guard surnamed Sun (badge number 3705274) was waiting for her in the lobby. Sun insisted that no one abused Ms. Duan, they didn’t prohibit her from brushing her teeth, and she wasn’t qualified to be released on medical parole.
When the daughter visited Ms. Duan for the third time on September 5, 2024, she was again in a wheelchair. She seemed even more afraid to talk about her situation and she kept vomiting during the 30-minute meeting. Her body was shaking uncontrollably.
The daughter asked her why she was vomiting. Ms. Duan didn’t answer, but drew a line in front of her collarbone with her hand, with tears in her eyes.
The daughter then asked whether it was a side effect from the drug she was forced to take. She tried to say something, but stopped.
The guard (badge number 3705653) who stood next to Ms. Duan said that she was taken to the prison hospital twice in January and February 2024 for oxygen, but she wasn’t hospitalized. The guard emphasized that Ms. Duan agreed to go to the hospital herself. But only minutes later, the guard changed the story and said that Ms. Duan stayed at the hospital for three days the first time.
The daughter then questioned the guard about how long her mother stayed in the hospital the second time she was taken there. The guard refused to answer.
“This is the treatment you gave my mother?” the daughter asked.
“I don’t know what treatment she received in the hospital. I was only responsible for taking her there. And I’m not the doctor and I have no say about her treatment plan.” the guard said.
Ms. Duan’s daughter recalled that when she called the 12345 complaint hotline in August 2024, the prison promised to take her mother to the hospital if she didn’t feel well. She felt the reply was reasonable so she didn’t object. But after her last visit in September 2024, she deeply worried that Ms. Duan was abused and subjected to mistreatment in the hospital. She then called the 12345 complaint hotline again, and demanded that the prison not take her mother to the hospital unless her life was in danger.
In addition to Ms. Duan, her husband, Mr. Ma Lizhi, a former school teacher, was also targeted for practicing Falun Gong. He was arrested in late October 2000 for distributing Falun Gong materials. He developed scabies all over his body from skin mites and minor ascites after several months of detention. He was released in March 2001 and passed away in November that year. He was only 37.