There are four so-called "transformation bases" in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province. They are Shibalihe Women's Labor Camp, Xinxiang Women's Prison, Xuchang 3rd Labor Camp, and Zhengzhou Prison.

In order to persecute Falun Gong practitioners, CCP authorities provided financial support in constructing buildings and setting up electronic monitoring systems. Zhengzhou Prison received 48 million yuan and built five buildings. Even the local county received money for setting up brainwashing sessions to further persecute Falun Gong practitioners.

1. Brainwashing sessions in prison attempt to "transform" Falun Gong practitioners and incessantly persecute them

Deputy-warden Feng picked inmate Zhang Jingqun, a former deputy director of the state petrochemical company who was sentenced to 3 years for bribery, along with hundreds of other inmates to form a "transformation" team. Their job was to "transform" Falun Gong practitioners. Falun Gong practitioners with firm belief were sent into solitary confinement and forced to perform the "three positions" (standing, sitting, squatting for extended periods of time). They were also sent to intense brainwashing sessions, and were subjected to electric baton shocks.

Falun Gong practitioner Ren Lidong was sent to solitary confinement, was deprived of sleep, was forced to perform the "three positions," and told to be "well-behaved." Otherwise, three to five perpetrators would begin seriously beating him. Under such inhumane abuse and torture, Ren Lidong almost lost his vision within one month. His left eye had vision of 0.03, while the right eye was 0.013. Falun Gong practitioner Lu Yuankun refused to be "transformed." He was tortured with electric batons and beaten with a thick club. His face and body were covered with bruises and were deformed. He lost twenty-four teeth and the rest of his teeth were loose. He could not eat regular meals anymore, and could only eat soup.

Deputy warden Sun Jianhua, who was then in charge of "transformations" said, "The only thing I want is a high transformation rate." So the guards and inmates acted in collusion to systematically and brutally persecute over three hundred Falun Gong practitioners. Falun Gong practitioner Song Xu was tortured with electric needles whose voltages were increased by five volts between each successive "treatment" until he passed out. He has since been on a hunger strike for 426 days in protest.

Deputy warden Zhan Guichao, who is now in charge of "transformations" stated, "Prison is a place where dictatorship is carried out. We will firmly deal with prisoners who do not obey!"

Zhao Xiaomin claimed, "I will see who dares not to be transformed."

He ordered "club teams" of thirty perpetrators to brutally beat twelve Falun Gong practitioners. Four practitioners from the Xinxiang Earthquake Bureau of Anyang City and Linzhou City who were in a coma after being severely beaten.

Guard Chen Youzhi of the 12th Wardspecifically picked inmate Mao Chunfang, a former policeman who murdered someone in Gongyi City, to take charge of Falun Gong practitioners.

Falun Gong practitioner Lu Shunmin, from Xuchang City, started a hunger strike to protest against the persecution. Mao Chunfang and Zhou Qihong force-fed Mr. Lu Shunmin feces and urine, forced him to kneel, burned his finger and tongue with a cigarette lighter, and forced him to squat for a long period of time. Deputy warden Zhan Guichao ordered other wards to come to learn their techniques. One inmate, Yue Jinsheng, who drugged two children to death, intensified the persecution against practitioners. Each Falun Gong practitioner was closely monitored by two to three inmates. They followed them everywhere, whether they went to meals or to the bathroom. Practitioners were subjected to slave labor during the day and were deprived of sleep during the night. They were subjected to beatings, verbal abuse, and were threatened with further violence. Practitioner Mei Shengxin from Zhanjiang was beaten by several inmates for three days around the clock. He was forced to change the water in the fish tank the next morning. He was hit with the tank, and two open wounds on his head started to bleed profusely and he passed out. Mr. Mei was in critical condition and required twenty-one stitches on his head.

2. Mental abuse and physical torture

Zhenzhou prison guards usually begin the "transformation" attempts with mental abuse. Whenever a Falun Gong practitioner arrived at the prison, he would be forced to sit by himself in the corner and would not be allowed to talk to fellow practitioners. One inmate would monitor him at close range. They formed so-called "mutual monitoring teams" with layers of monitoring. Sometimes Falun Gong practitioners were surrounded by two to three teams of one to two guards, along with several "transformers" who would viciously attack Falun Gong. Their obscene language was very offensive. The guards would do this two to three times a day. In the meantime, they forced Falun Gong practitioners to watch Falun Gong-slandering DVDs and books. Falun Gong practitioners who refused to answer their questions or refused to be "transformed" would receive physical torture.

In the No. 4 Prison District, the guards brutally tortured Falun Gong practitioner Wang Chunjian, a former engineer from Cotton Spinning Factory in Nanyang City, Henan Province. The perpetrators covered him with a blanket, turned off the lights, and twenty people beat and kicked him. They did not stop until he passed out. The perpetrators used a cigarette lighter to burn his tongue and fingers. Wang Chunjian's tongue was covered with blisters and he was unable to eat. His fingers were black and yellow and his nails were all curled up. He could not sleep due to the excruciating pain. Wang Chunjian still firmly believes in Falun Gong and nothing is going to shake his belief.

The guards receive two to four thousand yuan for "transforming" each Falun Gong practitioner. The prison uses praise and a decrease in their sentences to incite other inmates to torture and "transform" Falun Gong practitioners. The purpose is to create an even worse environment and add pressure to Falun Gong practitioners.

Agents from the 610 Office and local government extorted money from Falung Gong practitioner Ms. Zheng Meiying when she was released from prison.

Ms. Zheng Meiying lives in Shacheng Town, Huailai County, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province. She was put into the Hebei Province Women's Prison for practicing Falun Gong in May 2002. When she was released on May 10, 2007, the Prison Administration ordered the Huailai County Government to "pick her up." Seven officers from Huailai County 610 Office, Police Department, Justice Department, and Shacheng Town Hall went there in three cars with Ms. Zheng's younger brother.

Several cars intercepted them when they were returning and were about two miles from the Huailai County Seat. The interceptors were Shacheng Town CCP Secretary Mei, police officer Han Yongze and others from Huailai County Police Department and Justice Department. They told Ms. Zheng Meiying that she would not be allowed to go home. They detained her in Huanglong Mountain Resort.

Ms. Zheng's parents had just met with their daughter after 5 years of separation, and they were told that their daughter was not allowed to go home. Ms. Zheng's mother was shocked and frightened. She had a heart attack, and her blood pressure was at 260 mmHg. Ms. Zheng and other family members rushed her to the county hospital. The agents from the 610 Office agents, police department and justice department followed them and threatened to take Ms. Zheng away until she, her brother, and relatives wrote a guarantee statement that she would not leave the town. They also forced her pay them 5,000 yuan before releasing her.

Guards in the 8th Ward at the Mudanjiang Prison, Heilongjiang Province, use brutal and inhumane methods to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. The torture methods include handcuffing practitioners' wrists behind their backs; shocking with electric batons and beating with plastic tubes; gang beating one practitioner at a time; solitary confinement; handcuffing and shackling and then tying a practitioner up to a metal ring fixed in the ground for a long time. The guards keep inventing new torture methods.

On March 23, 2007, Falun Gong practitioner Wang Mingzhu wrote words that clarified the truth about Falun Gong on his arm. The guards then handcuffed his arms behind his back and pushed him into a washroom that is often used as a site for beatings and torture. They pushed him to the ground and force-fed him heart medicine before applying the torture. Fearing that electric baton shocking would precipitate a heart attack and Wang Mingzhu might die, the guards force-fed him heart medication pills so they could torture him at will. They ordered a common inmate named Wang Lijun to put Wang Mingzhu's neck in between his legs in a strangle-hold while guard Jiang Lei beat Wang Mingzhu with a plastic tube and other guards -- Zhang Shengli, Sun Jian and Wu Xuejun -- punched and kicked Mr. Wang and shocked his body including his genital area with an electric baton. They did not stop until the electric baton was out of power. Zhang Shengli shouted, "This is law enforcement!"

They subsequently detained Wang Mingzhu in a solitary cell for two weeks. His body was still black and blue when he came out of the solitary cell.

On March 31, 2007, the provincial Prison Authority Bureau held a "report conference" at a workshop in the 3rd Ward. Hearing slanderous things said about Falun Gong, practitioner Huang Guodong spoke out loudly, "Stop slandering Master Li! Stop slandering!"

The guards immediately beat and kicked Mr. Huang in front of several hundred witnesses. They then dragged him to a washroom in the 8th Ward where guards Sun Jian, Zhang Shengli, Song Junpiao and others shocked him with electric batons and kicked and punched him until they were exhausted. Huang Guodong was nearly 60 years old. He was black and blue all over and could not move after the violent beating. He was then dragged to a solitary cell, in handcuffs and shackles, and chained to an iron ring on the ground for eight days.

On April 2, 2007, guards Wu Xuejun, Jiang Lei and Sun Jian arrived, each holding an electric baton, and brutally tortured Huang Guodong. They also urged an inmate to beat Huang Guodong every day. When Huang Guodong came out of the solitary confinement cell two weeks later, one of his legs was disabled, and yet he was still forced to do slave labor in the workshop.

[Note: The following is a shortened version of a longer and more detailed article that appeared on the Minghui.org website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net).]

Recently the Chinese Communist Party has assigned quotas for practitioners to be brainwashed to each employer in Huaihua City, Hunan Province. As a result, many Falun Gong practitioners were arrested and taken to a brainwashing center by local agents.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Tang Zhezhong, an employee of Xiang Vinylon Limited Co. in Dajiangkou Town, Xupu County in Huaihua City, Hunan Province, was arrested on May 16, 2007. On May 17, 2007, another practitioner Ms. Xie Xiaofang was also arrested. They were taken to the Huaihua City Brainwashing Center separately.

Ms. Dai Dingcui, 60 years old and a retired employee of Huitong County Water Supply Co. in Huaihua City, was tricked into getting on a bus. She was directly taken to the Huaihua Brainwashing Center at around 8:00 a.m. on May 17, 2007.

Ms. Mi Jin'ai, a retired employee of the grain supply center for troops in Hecheng District under the jurisdiction of the Huaihua City Grain Bureau, was arrested at her workplace at around 9:00 a.m. on May 18, 2007. She is currently detained at Huaihua Brainwashing Center.