(Clearwisdom.net) The paragraphs below describe my experiences after being illegally arrested and later sent to Chaoyang District Detention Center, Daxing Forced Labor Dispatch Department and Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp in Beijing.
1. Chaoyang District Detention Center in Beijing
Many people are detained in one cell at Chaoyang District Detention Center. Due to the crowded conditions, everyone has to sleep on their side at night. Because of extremely limited time for restroom use, people often resort to sharing toilets, and toilet paper is rationed in small amounts. Toilet water has to be used to clean oneself. The head of the cell commonly creates issues by bullying and picking on others.
2. Daxing Forced Labor Dispatch Department
Basic human dignity is trampled upon and practitioners are humiliated at Daxing Forced Labor Dispatch Department. Police require people to walk with their heads down, their hands not moving with arms straight and close to their sides. Practitioners can not talk to each other. They are required to do military squats in front of police when taking food, looking at the ground, with both hands holding a bowl above the head, saying "Greetings team leader. Thank you team leader." Every practitioner is forced to repeatedly recite, "I am so-and-so, inmate from such-and-such Brigade. I was sentenced to so many years for disrupting social order."
3. Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp in Beijing
I was later transferred to Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp. The guards there encourage collaborators (inmates handpicked by the guards to carry out their dirty work) to "reform" practitioners using violence. The collaborators selected by guards are good at beating, cursing and using violence. The guards promise to reduce their sentences. In addition, the guards reward collaborators with extra benefits and more personal freedoms. At other times, the guards threaten them if they do not want to beat and curse practitioners. Some inmates lose their basic conscience and beat practitioners badly in order to receive favors such as better food.
Practitioner Wei Chunfu was beaten by three or four collaborators for no other reason than refusing to "reform." They fractured his nasal bone while beating him. He was sent to the hospital to treat the fractured bones. The doctor-in-charge was from another hospital, because no doctor at Tuanhe Hospital was capable of doing the surgery. Guards at the labor camp tried to cover up this incident, telling the lie that Wei Chunfu tried to escape and was stopped. They said the injury was caused when they tried to stop him. In order to hide the information, several collaborators were quickly transferred to other teams. Later I learned that the collaborator who caused the serious injury had his sentence reduced by one year. According to labor camp regulations, beatings and other forms of punishment, including directing inmates to carry out the beatings, are forbidden.
I learned from a collaborator that practitioner Xue Peng was severely tortured by collaborators. During the daytime, most practitioners are forced to perform labor at workshops. Collaborators and guards use violence to persecute practitioners who firmly believe in Dafa. Even when the collaborators who persecute practitioners are exposed, the guards still protect them.
One time, practitioner Xue Peng was beaten by collaborators. This was reported to a guard whose family name is Yin. He asked another practitioner, who was at the scene, about the incident. This practitioner testified that it was the truth, but the guard then hit him in the back and said, "Mind your own business!" The collaborator had a few conduct points deducted and was made to write a self-criticism. Later, the collaborator proudly told the practitioner: "What can you do to me? My term was not affected. Reduced points means nothing to me. I have a lot of points.”
Guards Liu and Yin were among those who severely persecuted practitioners. They know that sometimes practitioners give up their belief against their will. One practitioner did not finish the required workload at the workshop. Guard Liu was in charge of production. He claimed the practitioner was lazy, and demanded he write an article slandering Falun Gong as punishment.
The practitioners at the labor camp are required to submit to a written exam every two or three months to answer questions related to Falun Gong. The goal is to repeatedly humiliate practitioners and to force them to do things against their will. Every practitioner who gives in has been tortured this way. If a practitioner does not answer the exam questions as the guards want, he will be locked in a small, confined cell for persecution. In this harsh environment, one's health often quickly deteriorates.
The guards also torture practitioners physically. Practitioner Gao Changze was forced to sit on a bench during the winter for long hours wearing only a single layer of clothing. During those cold winter days, the guards had the collaborators open all the windows in his cell. The cold air filled the room. It was so cold that the collaborators, who wore winter clothing, could not take it, and had to stomp around in the room to warm themselves up.
The guards persuade the collaborators to "reform" practitioners using force. The most common method is forcing practitioners to sit on a bench for long periods of time, and denying their normal physiological requirements like sleep, use of restrooms, etc. Practitioners are forced to sit up straight and are not allowed to move. Their backs cannot touch the back of the chair, and their legs must be next to each other, their hands on their legs, and eyes looking forward. This position makes one’s muscles very tight. They are forced to sit like this for seventeen hours or longer per day. They are allowed to use the restroom only during their two breaks. In order to make it more painful, the collaborators force practitioners to sit on only half of the chair or a quarter of the chair. Sometimes they also force practitioners to hold a pen between their legs. The pen will drop if the practitioners relax. Then they physically and verbally assault the practitioner.
One practitioner who was punished by this method for a long time eventually developed bleeding ulcers on his buttocks, but the guards ignored it. One elderly intellectual from the Chinese Science and Technology Institute was subjected to this torture. His calves and feet were so swollen that he could not put on his shoes. Practitioners punished in this manner cannot stand up or move around during the daytime. They are forced to eat while squatting on the floor. They are required to return right away and sit again after eating. At 11:00 at night, practitioners can go to bed. In order to further persecute practitioners, the guards announced that no one can use the restroom alone. All inmates in the room have to go with him. Some practitioners are seniors, and need to use the restroom several times at night. All of the inmates are then woken up to go with him. Sometimes the guards also go into the rooms to wake up everyone. This results in the practitioners suffering from exhaustion due to the lack of sleep. This method is used to wear down practitioners both physically and mentally. In the labor camp, all private letters of practitioners are examined by the police. Their telephone conversations with their family members are monitored. Police will cut off all contact with the outside world of those practitioners who refuse to give up their belief in Falun Dafa. They are not allowed to see their family members or contact them.
