(Minghui.org) Over 30 Falun Gong practitioners are currently being held and tortured in Tailai Prison in Tailai County, Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province. Over the past 25 years of the persecution of Falun Gong, the guards in this prison have torture the practitioners imprisoned there in all kinds of ways because they refused to renounce their faith.

To break the practitioners physically and mentally so that they give up their practice against their will, the guards sprayed them with hot pepper, restrained them on the death bed, deprived them of sleep and daily necessities, and made them work long hours doing intensive labor.

Torture Used on Practitioners Currently Incarcerated

The authorities in Tailai Prison have actively participated in torturing Falun Gong practitioners since the Chinese Communist Party launched the persecution in July 1999. Once a practitioner shows that he is determined to uphold his faith, the guards put him in a special unit to torture him. He is allowed no contact with the outside and can only spend 100 yuan (US$14) each month on daily necessities.

Most of the time the guards start by spraying the practitioners with a variety of hot chili extracts. The worst kind is a highly concentrated extract containing unknown drugs, which makes the victim feel weak for hours afterward. The burning sensation intensifies if the practitioner tries to wash it off with water. Sleep deprivation is another common torture used on the practitioners.

When the guards believe that a practitioner can be easily forced to give up his faith, they target and torture him early during his time there. If they believe the person is steadfast, they deceive and brainwash him first to earn his trust and make him forget about Falun Gong’s teachings. A few months before he is scheduled to be released, they start to torture him relentlessly.

Current Situations in the Prison

In 2017, the Justice Bureau planned to transfer prisoners in Xinjiang Autonomous Region to Tailai Prison, so they built three additional buildings there. The plan was later called off due to public scrutiny. But prisoners from Nehe Prison and Wudalianchi Prison in Heilongjiang Province were transferred to Tailai Prison in 2019. There are about 3,000 inmates. Guards who are specially trained to deal with dissidents in Xinjiang were also transferred to Tailai Prison. These guards treat the inmates like animals and give them stale food. Guards patrol in front of every ward around the clock.

Illustration: The inmates in the prison are forced to work in a sweatshop for long hours without pay.

Every inmate must work during the day, even those who are old, paralyzed from waist down, or have only one arm. Most of the work involves sewing, but there is also other work that is filthy and exhausting. Due to the orders that keep coming, the inmates sometimes do not get a break for two months at a time.

To make sure the maximum amount of work gets done in the sweatshop, sick inmates are almost never allowed to go to the hospital—unless they have a connection or pay a price. Only those with severe symptoms such as a brain hemorrhage or acute heart failure are allowed to see a doctor. If an inmate has a chronic illness, he’d almost never be allowed to seek medical attention. If he dies, the doctors in the hospital work with the prison to come up with an excuse to cover up the abuse. An inmate is only approved for medical parole if he is at the verge of death.

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