(Clearwisdom.net) Most of the illegally detained Falun Gong practitioners in Gangbei Prison of Tianjin City have been sentenced for more than five years. They have suffered from both physical and mental persecution through the use of forced labor and heavy work loads.

Gangbei Prison is located near the Banqiao Paper Mill in the Dagang area of Tianjin City. It is also right in front of the notorious Bamqiao Women's Forced Labor Camp (formally renamed to Tianjin City Women's Forced Labor Camp). If one walks from the intersection of the Gangbei Prison towards the jail, at about 1,000 meters, you would see a high wall, electric netting, and a watch tower. It is located in the center of a vacant area, with strong winds year round, which are especially chilly in the winter. In early 2006, the eye-catching sign "Gangbei Prison of Tianjin City" which hung on its front door was taken down. Some people think the reason they did so is because they are afraid of being investigated by an international association.

Many Falun Gong practitioners have been illegally detained in Gangbei Prison, including an engineer named Zhou Xiangyang. He was from the Third Investigation and Design Institute of the Railroad Department. He was illegally sentenced for nine years. They have to work long hours, with a heavily overloaded work schedule every day. There are many different kinds of labor, including making flower arrangements, sewing and mending footballs, picking out nails etc.

Besides the forced labor, the ways that Gangbei Prison tries to mentally force practitioners to "transform" are even more vicious. For instance, they have to write "thought reports" regularly, they are cursed at, violently beaten, and locked in dark cells for a long time, etc. While their relatives visit, all conversations are monitored by the jail's security monitoring system. If any of the relatives mentions anything against the "brainwashing" or the so called "thought transformation," these practitioners are immediately deprived the right to see their families again. Also their families are strictly prohibited from bringing them anything. In August 2005, a mother of an illegally detained Falun Gong practitioner was kicked out of the visiting room by several indulgent and reckless police screaming, "Go ahead, sue me if you dare! You can sue me anywhere you want to!" Ten minutes later, another practitioner's mother and sisters were kicked out of the visiting room with the police screaming behind them, "Go ahead. Sue me if you dare!"

Gangbei Prison

Gangbei Prison: 86-22-63251056, 86-22-62071156
The Fifth Ward: 86-22-62071151
First division of the Fifth Ward: 86-22-62071158
Gangbei information desk: 86-22-62071052