(Minghui.org) The Number Four Prison, located in Linping Town, Yuhang City, Zhejiang Province, has detained and persecuted more than 100 Falun Gong practitioners since the persecution started in 1999. The Number Four Prison blindly follows the directives of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) when it comes to persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.
Prison Rules, Regulations, “Transformation,” and Harassment
Just like the criminal inmates, practitioners are expected to wear the inmate uniform; sit, stand, and line up as directed; recite the prison rules and regulations; sing (communist) songs; write thought reports; be brainwashed; and so on.
Those who are “transformed” are taken to the production units to work. Anyone who does not meet the assigned quota is punished. Falun Gong practitioners are not excused from further brainwashing sessions. They are ordered to write “thought reports,” detailing how they adhere to the guards' standards.
Practitioners who refuse to be “transformed” are transferred to the fourth ward, which uses advanced tactics. The prison has a “transformation” leadership team, which also has a few assistant “education” guards.
The fourth ward organized “transformed” former practitioners, with Feng Yun (a “transformed” practitioner) in charge. Feng was assigned guards. They focused on identifying the weaknesses of each practitioner, which were then used on the targeted practitioner. They also assigned a few university professors, who attacked the practitioners' belief with academic theories.
Each practitioner is monitored (a method widely used by CCP guards) by two or more inmates around the clock. They record and report everything a practitioner says and does.
The ultimate goal is to “transform” practitioners. The ultimate proof that a practitioner has been “transformed” is that they write the “four statements:” a pledge to give up Falun Gong, an affidavit promising not to practice Falun Gong again, a guarantee to end any spiritual connection with Falun Gong, and a document defaming Falun Gong written according to prison instructions.
The document defaming Falun Gong has to be read in public in the sub-ward, ward, and prison. The guards then rate the person, and the deputy director of the prison Huang Jianying publicly awards those with good ratings.
Practitioners who refuse to be “transformed” are tortured, including having their heads being pushed into a basin full of water, being made to stand for long periods of time, restraint on the death bed, sleep deprivation, having to sit on a tiny stool, and so on.
Torture Methods
Torture re-enactment: Death bed
Death bed: For example, practitioners who refuse to do the daily report are restrained on the death bed. The victim's limbs are shackled to the four corners of the bed, spread-eagle and immobile. The victim may be released for meals and to use the restroom, also maybe during the night.
Sitting on a tiny stool
Sitting on a tiny stool: The person must sit up absolutely straight with the hands on the knees and the fingers closed. The eyes are covered. If these requirements are not met, the person is beaten or forced to sit on half the stool. Within three days the flesh on the buttocks festers. Many practitioners tortured this way ended up with a low white blood cell count and were unable to walk without assistance.
Beatings: The monitor and specially assigned inmates punch and slap the practitioner – one of the most commonly used forms of torture. One practitioner was severely beaten by four monitors at once. After being punched in the back, the practitioner could not stand up straight. The guards ignored it. In fact, they ignore or silently permit the monitors to beat people. They will be awarded a bonus at the end of the year. Some of them hit so hard they hurt their own hands.
Torture re-enactment: Beating
The guards execute their superiors' orders without question. Practitioners are often taken to small isolation cells to be beaten.
Sleep Deprivation: Sleep deprivation is used when someone refuses to be “transformed.” The targeted practitioners are not allowed to close their eyes during the day. After the evening meal, they are taken to the guards' office, where, the assigned guard sometimes slaps their face. Although surveillance cameras are everywhere in the prison, blind spots exist. The guards take advantage of the blind spots to torture the practitioners, who are kept awake all night.
Limiting Use of the Restroom: This is a widely used tactic. Partitioners are “allowed” to urinate only once every 24 hours and defecate once every three days.
When someone defecates, the monitors throw a photo of Master into the toilet and taunt them: “Are you a Falun Gong practitioner? If you defecate on your master's head, will your master still acknowledge you?”
They throw Master's image on the floor and try to force the practitioner to step on it. If the person refuses to step on it, the monitors lift the practitioner's feet and kick the photo under them.
Memorizing the prison rules: If a practitioner cannot memorize the prison rules, he or she would not be allowed to defecate. One practitioner could not defecate for 11 days and finally soiled his pants. Initially he was allowed to wash his pants, but when it happened a second time, he wasn't allowed to clean them and had to sleep in them.
Hunger: If a practitioner refuses to self-identify as a “criminal,” he gets no food. If anyone wants to complain, monitor-approval is required. Sometimes there is no chance to even meet with the guards. Targeted practitioners are only given a little or no food, depending on the guards' attitude. One can be deprived of breakfast for 7 days, even 15 days, or given no breakfast at all.
Covering the Face: The guards or inmates tie the practitioner up, pour water on his face, and then cover his face with a plastic sheet to seal the nose and mouth.
Experienced in “Transformation”
After over a decade of “transforming” practitioners, the prison authorities have gained lots of experience, all of it illegal. But they are not afraid because they have all kinds of ways to avoid leaving any evidence of torture.
For example, when a practitioner was forced to stand for a long time, such as over 12 hours, they simply record it as “[practitioner's name] stood quietly.” In time they felt this might still be open to question, so they used a different record book and changed all the records to read, “behavior training.”
What the prison implements and enforces is not the law, but the wish and will of the Party. They do not hesitate to use any tactic to try to “transform” Falun Gong practitioners. Since they are never prosecuted for what they are doing, they do not have to show respect for the law.
Many inmates believe that the Party owns the prisons, that the Party makes the laws, and that China and the Party are one and the same. Many law-enforcement employees, who should be the guardians of the law, abuse the law, because the Party has indoctrinated them.
