(Minghui.org) Jilin Province Women’s Prison started an intensive campaign against Falun Gong practitioners in May of 2018, placing them in a “discipline brigade.”

They do not allow family visits or phone calls. They do not allow practitioners to buy food. The monthly spending has been limited to 20 yuan. Practitioners have been forced to sit on tiny benches from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Prison guards from the fifth prison ward told practitioners’ families that for those who refused to give up their beliefs, their families would not be able to visit them. If practitioners agreed to stop practicing and write a “guarantee statement,” the family would be allowed to visit immediately.

During the 100-day campaign, many practitioners were brutally tortured—force-feeding, splitting fingers, being poked in the face with sharp objects, and more. Some practitioners could not endure the torture and gave in.

At the beginning of May, some families received phone calls from the prison that the monthly family visits had been canceled. The regular family phone calls were also canceled.

Jilin Province Women’s Prison is also called Heizuizi Women’s Prison of Changchun, and is notorious for using torture to induce practitioners to give up their beliefs. Former prison head Jia Dingxin and Wu Zeyun established designated prison wards for persecuting practitioners.

There have been 21 practitioners who have died as a result of persecution while in prison since 2002: Yu Lixin, Jiang Chunxian, Han Cuiyuan (Han Chunyuan), Deng Shiying, Yang Guiqin, Yang Guijun, Zhao Yanxia, Ma Yuhuan, Sun Xiuxia, Wang Shiqin, Chang Guiyun, Wang Yanqin, Yu Guoqing, Cong Guixiang, Wang Xiuyun, Chen Shuqin, Liu Shuyan and Huo Runzhi.

Three practitioners were severely tortured in prison and passed away soon after they returned home. They are Zhang Ping, Ma Shiyan and Wang Yan.

At least three practitioners became disabled due to the abuse that they suffered: Yu Cuilan, Xiang Lijie and Liu Xia. At least five practitioners were mentally disabled: Ban Huijuan, He Hua, Yang Mingfang, Wang Guohua, and Li Yuanmei.