(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Bao Mingquan from Linshui County, in Sichuan Province made courageous efforts to inform the public about the persecution of Falun Gong and was discovered by the police. He was subsequently arrested, illegally sentenced, and inhumanly tortured at the Deyang Jail. Below is Mr. Bao's account of his sufferings in the jail.

My name is Bao Mingquan. I am from a rural area in Linshui County, Sichuan Province. I am 54 years old. My home is in the Fourth Group, in Nanba Village, Xingren Town. I began practicing Falun Gong in 1997 and my life improved in many ways as a result.

In the beginning of 2002, some fellow practitioners and I put up some very large banners on the border of Dazhu and Linshui counties. The banners exposed the persecution of Falun Gong and they shocked the police and state security guards in the two counties. On May 28, 2002, I was arrested by policeman Hu Yu and Chang Keqing from Linshui Police Department and State Security Team, as well as some police from the Xingren Police Station. I was held in Linshui County Detention Center. On June 3, 2002, I was transferred to Dazhu County Detention Center by the Captain of Dazhu County State Security Team, whose last name was Li. I was held there for 13 months. In July of 2003, I was sentenced to 4 years by the Dazhu County Procuratorate and the county court. I was then sent to Deyang Jail.

I was forced to stay inside and not allowed to see any sunshine for the first 13 months of my jail term. Then suddenly, they tortured me by forcing me to stand in the burning sun every day (Sichuan Province is extremely hot in the summer). I was standing on the concrete ground wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt. They cut all my hair off and my head and arms were all sunburned very badly, with bleeding blisters. When I washed my head and arms, my skin fell off and bled all over. It was very painful. Shortly after this, my body turned very dark. It took seven or eight months for the color of my skin to become normal again.

The most evil place is the Second Prison Division. The director, vice director, 610 Office director, and instructors of the Second Prison Division often instigated the criminal prisoners to torture Falun Gong practitioners in all different ways. If they were able to "transform" one Falun Gong practitioner, they could be rewarded with several thousand yuan.

Every day the police forced us to walk and run on the field. They tried to force us to "transform" and write the three statements. If we refused, they would torture us very brutally. When it was very hot, they did not allow us to shower, and sometimes did not allow us to sleep. Sometimes, they let us sleep, but since we had not showered for many days and we sweat a lot, our bodies were very sticky. The single bed sheet and the skin would adhere together, causing great pain and discomfort. This is how the guards treated kindhearted Falun Gong practitioners.