In July 2000, a male practitioner, Yan, from Yangchun County, Guangdong Province, went to Beijing to safeguard Falun Dafa. Yan along with his mother, older sister and 8-month-old nephew, refused to report their names and address to the authorities, so they were all sent back to the Shahe Penitentiary in Guangzhou City. At that time, the Shahe Penitentiary held dozens of practitioners, including many of the practitioners who attended the large-scale exercise practice in June 2000 in Guangzhou City. In the penitentiary, Dafa practitioners were exposed to inhuman treatment and subjected to abominable living conditions. In December 2000, many practitioners in the penitentiary held a hunger strike. Practitioner Yan, however, was sent into the Baiyun District Mental Hospital in Guangzhou City, where he was persecuted and ultimately tortured to death.