Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners at the Hongzehu Prison in Jiangsu Province

(Clearwisdom.net) Hongzehu Prison is one of the two prisons where male Falun Gong practitioners are detained and persecuted in Jiangsu Province (the other one is Suzhou Prison). The prison personnel there have committed outrageous crimes during the past six years. Among them are prison detention officers Tang Jinchao (Chief of the Transformation Through Education Section), Tong Yingxian, Cao (in charge of brainwashing and persecuting practitioners in the Transformation Through Education Section), and Zhang Guanjun (political instructor of the squadron where practitioners are detained). These officers are the most vicious persecutors of Falun Gong practitioners.

In an attempt to crush practitioners' righteous beliefs in Falun Gong, guards concentrate on squat-training during the "prison entrance education" of newly detained practitioners. For squat-training, practitioners are forced to squat when entering the prison police office, during roll call, while eating, while passing through the warning line and listening to prison official's speeches, etc.

To achieve their goal of "transforming" the practitioners and forcing them to give up the practice of Falun Gong, the detention officers have developed a set of commonly used methods: First they try threats, bullying and deception. When these fail, they resort to forced brainwashing. They put practitioners with the new prisoners to perform forced labor for a while. Meanwhile they visit the practitioners' families, ostensibly out of concern for them, trying to discover the practitioners' weaknesses. Then they conduct personal conversations with practitioners, looking for their attachments. During the forced brainwashing, prison officials lock practitioners in the brainwashing center and organize rounds of attacks, sometimes using harsh language and evil looks, other times appearing warm and caring. During brainwashing the practitioners are forced to listen to vicious lies defaming and slandering Falun Gong. The process usually lasts several ten-hour days, with few breaks. The prison officials also utilize those who've been "transformed" and who have deviated from genuine Falun Gong teachings to help "transform" the practitioners and carry out intensified brainwashing. If a practitioner refuses to give in and "transform," then the officers lock him up in a dark cell with the windows sealed and the beds removed, and recruit a dozen inmates to watch him around the clock in four man shifts. The purpose is to create an atmosphere of terror, and to mentally torture the practitioner. If they still fail to achieve their goal, they send the practitioner to the labor unit with the harshest working conditions to increase their physical suffering. To summarize, the prison officials use violence, deception, feigned concern, and all kinds of despicable tactics without any restraint.

While the prison officials carry out the inhuman persecution against practitioners who refuse to "transform," they also continue to persecute those who have. On one hand they try to brainwash practitioners with lies and slander, and on the other hand they increase the practitioners' workloads. They try to destroy the practitioners mentally and physically while simultaneously making the maximum profit.

For those practitioners who resist the persecution, prison officials escalate their torture and monitoring. They don't allow the practitioners to talk or walk with each other, make phone calls, write their families, or even use the toilet. They closely monitor these practitioners in the washroom.

During October and November 2001, practitioner Tang Xueyong refused to obey the guard's orders and was subjected to inhuman torture for more than forty days. Prison officer Tang Jinchao (then the deputy political instructor of the tenth ward) and Zhang Guanjun (former political instructor of the squadron in the tenth ward) instigated inmate Wang Gang and others to carry out violent physical and psychological persecution against Tang Xueyong. They forced him to get up early and go to bed late. The team had counts early in the morning and late at night, and before meals on the playground. The guards told inmates to carry Tang Xueyong by his arms and kick the backs of his knees so that they hit the cement. When Tang Xueyong was able to stand again, the inmates kicked him from behind. They did this dozens of times, until inmate Wang Gang ordered them to stop. Every day during each of the five counts they repeated the torture. Soon Tang Xueyong's knees were covered with bloody open wounds. They wouldn't allow Tang Xueyong to use the toilet or sit. Tang's lower legs swelled to the same size as his upper legs. Because Tang Xueyong stuck to the principles of Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance and refused to comply with the evil, the Hongzehu Prison guards and inmates tortured him. For propaganda purposes however, prison officials claim they "educate, influence and save" Falun Gong practitioners.

Like Tang Xueyong, practitioner Tang Xuebin refused to cooperate with the persecutors, so he was strapped to a wooden board for many days by prison officers Tang Jinchao and Zhang Guanjun of the so-called "strict discipline team." He couldn't move his arms or legs and wasn't allowed to use the toilet. Practitioner Ni Haibin also refused to cooperate with the brainwashing and was locked up in the first ward's sewing unit and forced to perform hard labor. He was sent to the strict discipline team and tortured three times. In March and April 2004, Ni Haibin went on a hunger strike in the strict discipline team and was tortured to the verge of death before being sent to the hospital. Even in the hospital prison officials continued to threaten and brainwash him.

In summer 2004 practitioner Chen Zhanguo was tortured to the brink of a mental collapse because he persisted in doing the Falun Gong exercises. The guards spread lies that he had mental illness and transferred him to Nantong Mental Hospital, where he was forcibly injected with drugs that cause damage to the nervous system. Practitioner Li Rongsheng was tortured until he couldn't walk or take care of himself. Still prison officials refused to release him. In fall 2003 officers from the tenth ward fed practitioners rotten and mildewed rice for more than a month. When practitioner Li Rongsheng protested, the guards said, "Others eat it, why won't you?" Gradually, more and more practitioners became clear on the matter and refused to comply with this ill treatment. The prison officials feared that people might find out about it, so they blocked all contact with the outside world, preventing people from knowing the true situation.

Prison policemen Tang Jinchao (Chief of the Transform Through Education Section), Tong Yingxian, Cao (in charge of brainwashing and persecuting practitioners in the Transformation Through Education Section), and Zhang Guanjun (political instructor of the squadron) are the ones who persecuted Falun Gong practitioners most ferociously. Sun Yun (current political instructor of the squadron detaining Falun Gong practitioners) and Wang Fei (squadron captain) follow Tang Jinchao closely in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.

Phone number of Hongzehu Prison: 86-527-6471101

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/2/16/120905.html

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