(Minghui.org) The Yunnan Second Women’s Prison is a prison designated to incarcerate female felons. After the persecution of Falun Gong started in July 1999, the prison has also become a place to imprison and torture female practitioners who were sentenced for exercising their constitutional right to freedom of belief.
Minghui.org previously reported on the various forms of torture used on jailed Falun Gong practitioners. This report is a personal account of a Falun Gong practitioner who was once held in prison.
Falun Gong practitioners were forced to wear a “white badge” upon admission. We had to get up at 5:40 a.m., when criminal inmates were allowed to sleep until 6:20 a.m. While the inmates went to the workshop to work until 7 p.m., we were forced to sit on a small stool and study materials smearing Falun Gong from morning to 9 p.m. We were not allowed to stand up to stretch and could only move our hips a bit to relieve the pain in our buttocks. My bottom festered and scarred after long-term sitting.
Those who refused to renounce Falun Gong after the first two months of imprisonment were issued a “red badge” with the sitting torture extended to midnight. One night it was snowing, and we only had ankle socks and summer slippers on. My heels were chapped and bleeding, staining the back of my slippers. My little finger joints were also cracked, and when I folded my blanket in the morning, the blood from my fingers left several red streaks on the fabric.
Since the three inmates assigned to monitor me had to stay up with me, they used various means to abuse me to vent their frustration. For instance, when it was my turn to clean the cell, they did not allow me to dump the trash outside or use the trash bin inside the cell. One of them tossed me an instant noodle bag to keep the trash in. I had carried it with me.
After the sitting torture, we also had to do one hour and twenty minutes of night duty (patrolling the cell and watching others sleep) every night. Other inmates were allowed to fetch hot water to drink or warm their hands during night duty, but the practitioners could only get lukewarm water, which soon turned ice cold.
“Red badge” practitioners were also only given half of the food provided for others. I asked a guard whether this was a policy from the central or the provincial government, and he replied, “You guys don’t need to sweat in the workshop. You only need to study [brainwashing materials slandering Falun Gong], so you don’t need to eat that much.”
The guards also forced us “red badge” practitioners to sing songs praising the Chinese Communist Party every day and to submit a thought report once every week. During major holidays, we were also made to write articles singing praise of the regime.
I was later forced to do hard labor from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. A Typical day began at 6:20 a.m. with us reporting to the workshop at 7 a.m. We could only grab some steamed buns to eat on the way to the workshop. Lunchtime at the workshop was very brief, and we had to resume work right after eating. We had dinner in the cell, but had to put our dinner bowl on the ground when the evening news Xinwen Lianbo (a flagship brainwashing program by the China Central Television) started. The guards didn’t even allow us to leave dinner on the table for fear of sudden inspection from the higher-ups. We could not resume eating until Xinwen Lianbo was over. By then, the food had long become cold.
We were not allowed to talk to each other. Once, I saw another practitioner and asked how much time was still left on her term. Both her monitors and mine immediately ordered us to shut up.
We were also put in a solitary confinement cell from time to time. The gaps under the door were stuffed with newspapers, blocking the view of the outside, and the lights were kept on around the clock. The inmates monitoring us also did not allow us to use the restroom. Once I had a strong urge to go, and my monitors said it was not time yet. When I asked a bit later, they said the time had passed. Sometimes, they used other excuses to deny me restroom use. They even said to me, “The first thing you must learn upon prison admission is to hold in your pee and poop.”
One day, the guards suddenly ordered everyone to return to their cells quickly. I then heard abusive language in the cell across from mine. Immediately afterward, a strong, pungent odor wafted in my cell, causing everyone to cough nonstop.
Later, a criminal inmate told me that the guards pepper-sprayed a practitioner in the other cell that day. She also revealed that she was once instructed by the guards to pepper-spray another practitioner, causing her face to suffer severe burns and develop a thick crust.
A mother and daughter, both Falun Gong practitioners, were issued red badges and prohibited from purchasing daily necessities. They had to pick up crumbled papers others had thrown away to wipe themselves after toilet use. Some inmates taunted them, saying they invited the mistreatment by practicing Falun Gong. In reality, all their suffering was a result of the illegal persecution of Falun Gong.
Many practitioners were seniors with poor vision. They struggled to use extremely thin copper wires to wind small coils and often failed to complete their quotas. Some inmates were sympathetic but did not dare to help for fear of being punished by the guards. They were also afraid of lending the practitioners daily necessities.
One practitioner was verbally abused by one of her monitors for a whole night because of her turning her body on the top bunk which “disrupted” the sleep of the monitor who slept beneath her.
Torture Used in Yunnan No. 2 Women's Prison—Sitting on a Small Stool
Deaths and Torture of Falun Gong Practitioners in Yunnan Second Women’s Prison
“Strict Discipline” of Falun Gong Practitioners in Yunnan No. 2 Women’s Prison