(Minghui.org) I am a female Falun Dafa practitioner nearing 70, and I have practiced for over 20 years. I have been unjustly imprisoned and persecuted at least a dozen times, including two detentions at the Heilongjiang Provincial Women’s Prison. I was released in July 2025. I am documenting the methods I witnessed being used to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners at the prison.
Heilongjiang Provincial Women’s Prison has 13 wards. Falun Dafa practitioners are held in the 8th and 9th wards. Each ward holds 300 to 400 inmates, including about 200 Falun Dafa practitioners. The inmates include people convicted of economic offenses, drug-related crimes, and murder.
Beginning in November 2024, the Heilongjiang Women’s Prison adopted methods used at Daqing Prison to control and mistreat Falun Dafa practitioners.
From morning to night, every activity was governed by standardized verbal commands: to wake up at 5:00 a.m., fold bedding, climb down from the upper bunk after folding, to wash up, tidy the sleeping area, sit on the small stool, and to recite the “10 Prohibitions” before meals. Then came commands to eat, wash dishes, mop the floor, line up for medication, sit back down, stand to recite the “38 rules,” and line up to head to the workshop.
Small Stools and Middle Bunks
One method of persecution involves the “small stool.” Practitioners were forced to sit on small stools only 30 centimeters (12 inches) high for up to 13 hours a day. If a practitioner proclaimed “Falun Dafa is good,” they had to remain seated on the stool for 15 to 16 hours.
Inmates with disabilities or health issues who cannot sit on the small stools must notify the prison guards in advance, and they are then required to lie down on “middle bunks.” Large cells house 15 inmates using three such platforms, while small cells house 10 inmates with two. Bunk beds line the walls on both sides of the room, with middle platforms in the center. Inmates seated on small stools flank each side of the platforms, creating extremely cramped conditions. Meals must be passed hand-to-hand from front to back. For elderly inmates unable to sit on the stools, being forced to lie on these central platforms amounts to psychological torment.
Forced Medication
Inmates assigned to monitor and detain Falun Dafa practitioners force them to take medication. Almost everyone who has been “transformed” is required to take the drug. If they refuse, the inmates shove, beat, and drag them to force compliance. Failure to administer the medication is treated as evidence that the “transformation” was incomplete. As a result, the assigned inmates lose points, jeopardizing their chances of sentence reduction.
Abbreviated Toilet Use
The toilet is located inside the cell and is a squat-pan model. Time is strictly limited, so one must get up even if one hasn’t finished evacuating the bladder or bowels. Falun Dafa practitioners are invariably verbally abused when using the toilet for a bowel movement. Monitors who fail to participate in the abuse are deemed non-compliant, and points are deducted, which affects sentence reduction.
Interrupted Sleep
Although the practitioners could go to bed at 7:30 p.m., they were forced to get up at 9:20 p.m., stand in formation, sit, lie down, and then go to sleep. For elderly Falun Dafa practitioners, this was a form of both physical and mental torment.
Many of the drug addicts were ruthless individuals. They knew that Falun Dafa practitioners did not eat raw garlic. They would wait until the practitioners fell asleep, then smear crushed garlic onto their headboards. For the practitioners, this was an act of mockery, a form of persecution that inflicted both physical and mental suffering.
Personal Hygiene Restrictions
The time allotted for daily personal cleansing is only 12 minutes, yet the so-called group leader monopolizes the sink. Falun Dafa practitioners are forced into the cramped space around the toilet stalls and often have to forgo brushing their teeth, only to be verbally abused by the inmates.
Beatings and Verbal Abuse
Whenever practitioners clarified the facts, they were beaten and verbally abused. Inmates would shout, “Hit their head,” to avoid leaving visible bruises or wounds. Some practitioners’ teeth were knocked out, while others suffered from persistent bleeding.
Reduced Food at Mealtimes
They served three meals a day Monday through Saturday and two on Sundays. The group leader distributed the food. By the time it reached the Falun Dafa practitioners, only broth, bones, and bone fragments were left, and their rice portions were smaller than those given to others. Practitioners had no choice but to go hungry or stage a hunger strike to protest the unfair treatment.
Forced to Wear Prison Uniforms
All detainees had “Convict” marked on their undergarments and outer clothing. Failure to comply was treated as a disciplinary violation resulting in point deductions or even additional sentencing. To humiliate Falun Dafa practitioners, authorities required them to switch to numbered uniforms in the evening. Practitioners refused to wear them, tearing or ripping the garments and throwing them into the trash, only to be beaten until their heads were bloodied.
Arbitrary Abuse by Inmates
Prison guards tacitly allowed non-practitioner inmates to abuse Falun Dafa practitioners at will. Inmates frequently targeted practitioners to vent their anger.
The practitioners faced all manner of unreasonable demands and harassment. Most practitioners were elderly, between 60 and 80, and some had poor teeth. They sometimes used hot water to prepare instant noodles. Yet the prison frequently mandated replacing the thermoses. One batch had to be swapped for another before the first had even worn out. Failing to switch to the designated style was considered a rule violation. Coat hangers were similarly replaced in rapid succession, requiring the purchase of new ones that matched the prescribed color and style. Later, the prison required the purchase of large water heaters, one for each room, forcing the disposal of existing and perfectly functional hot water dispensers. Having suffered years of economic persecution by the CCP, practitioners face financial hardship and cannot afford such constant replacements. Consequently, some are forced to go without hot water, even for bathing and washing up.