(Clearwisdom.net) The Fourth Prison of Hebei Province claims to be a model prison, but in reality it is an extraordinarily dark place, and it is one of the largest institutions that persecutes Falun Gong practitioners. Education Division prison guard Zhang Zhonglin is the person in charge who carries out forced brainwashing of practitioners. He is so ruthless that even other prison guards believe that Zhang Zhonglin is a wicked person.

Torture and cursing are a part of everyday life, and prisoners who were convicted of murder, rape, and robbery are the accomplices of the prison guards. The prison guards order them to monitor Dafa practitioners closely and arbitrarily abuse them. The Education Division's "Task Force," organized to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners, was made up of prisoners who have been convicted of felonies. The prison guards and the prisoners work together trying to force Dafa practitioners to give up their belief, by severely abusing and torturing them. If they succeed, the prison guards receive a bonus and the prisoners receive reduced prison terms. Some prisoners were asked to help but later quit because they couldn't handle the cruelty and the bloodiness. They would rather serve their full sentences then perform those inhuman deeds. Consequently, the Education Division had to look for the most hardened and wicked prisoners to help.

The "Task Force" tortured Dafa practitioners by a method known as "Enduring Eagle," which is really prolonged sleep deprivation. The prison guards and the prisoners took turns watching Dafa practitioners to make sure they didn't fall asleep. They used a dry towel to rub practitioners' eyeballs if they fell asleep. They turned the benches upside down and forced Dafa practitioners to sit on the legs of the benches with their legs crossed. The entire body weight must be on the bench legs and no movement was allowed, or else the practitioners would face torture. Food was provided initially, but rationed soon after; then it was prohibited for practitioners to eat, drink and use the bathroom. Every day the practitioners were questioned and tortured and subjected to brainwashing with fake news clips. According to prisoners, people subjected to this torture would begin to discharge blood after 4 days, and experience mental collapse 5 days later.

The political head of the Third Team of the Fifth Prison Ward ordered prisoners Li Hua and Shi Chunsheng to take charge of Dafa practitioner Mr. Guo Zhengqing. The two prisoners abused Mr. Guo frequently. One day after returning from working in the field, Shi pushed Mr. Guo to the ground. Guo Zhengqing's right leg was seriously injured, and his right foot was deformed. He couldn't move and was carried back to his cell by others. Shi Chunsheng was delighted to see this. That evening, Guo Zhengqing went to the bathroom four times. Twice he went to the bathroom by sitting on the floor and moving inch by inch. The other two times, he crawled to the bathroom. Whenever Guo Zhengqing spoke, Li Hua would smack him with a foot long composite plank until the plank was covered with blood. Li Hua exclaimed, "It is the order of the division chief not to let Guo Zhengqing speak."

In March of 2003, the "Task Force" used the "Enduring Eagle" torture on Guo Zhengqing, and he was not allowed to sleep for eight consecutive days and nights. Together with other prisoners, Third Team political head Liu Rufeng brutally tortured Mr. Guo for three nights. Mr. Guo lost consciousness numerous times, and his face and limbs were deformed by the eighth day. Now Guo Zhengqing is disabled from the brutal torture, and his right leg is numb all the time.

In the Fourth Prison Ward, Dafa practitioner Zhang Weijin was forced to wear shackles while working in the field; in the Sixth Prison Ward, Dafa practitioner Wang Shujun's head was covered with wounds due to severe torture; in the Twelfth Prison Ward, Dafa practitioner Liu Weiji wrote a letter to the prison warden to report the evil acts of the "Transformation Class." The retaliation by his prison section was ruthless. He was tortured mercilessly in vulnerable areas such as acupuncture points and muscle tendons. Later Liu Weiji was put under "Strict Control," and was watched around the clock.

On February 28, 2003 in the Fifth Prison Ward, prison guards confined Dafa practitioner Liu Huimin to the reception room with the windows and door closed. Every day he was forced to sit on a bench for a long time and no movement was allowed. Zhang Dongsheng and Zheng Xiangqian, two former Falun Dafa practitioners who betrayed Dafa (collaborators), tried to brainwash him. Failing in their efforts, the two even asked prison guards to persecute Mr. Liu. Four prison guards threatened and intimidated him for two weeks, but they failed to "transform" him. They locked Liu Huimin in the stage studio, applied the "Enduring Eagle" torture and tortured him in other ways as well. Mr. Liu was not allowed to use the bathroom, not allowed to eat or drink, and not allowed to wear warm pants in winter. He had to wash his soiled pants and wear them wet. He also had to sit on the legs of a bench and not fall asleep. The prison guards used a dry towel to rub his eyeballs if he became sleepy. Prison guards Zhang Zhonglin and other thugs tortured Liu Huimin brutally. Mr. Liu's ribs were broken; and he almost died after a heavy punch to his testicles. Mr. Liu also lost his memory.

A prisoner recalled later that one evening, prison guard Zhang Zhonglin and his accomplices punched and kicked Liu Huimin frantically in a dim, small room. Mr. Liu was beaten down, and when he sat back up, he was beaten down again, and again until the prison guards were tired. The next morning, the guards found that Liu Huimin's coat and pants were soaked with blood and wanted to wash them. Mr. Liu refused. Zhang Zhonglin instructed a prisoner to punch Mr. Liu on his genitals. Liu Huimin instantly fell to the ground and was sweating all over his entire body. The thugs forcefully removed his clothes and took him to his cell. The next day he was forced to work in the field.

Dafa practitioner Liu Huimin was a First Lieutenant in the armed forces. He was forced to leave the army in November 1999 because he practiced Falun Dafa. In July 2000, the county police department illegally detained more than 40 Dafa practitioners who were working in the fields. In August 2, Liu Huimin went to the county appeals office to request the release of detained Dafa practitioners and to ask that the good name of Falun Dafa and Master Li be reinstated. Because of that, Mr. Liu was illegally sentenced to five years in prison and was imprisoned in Hebei's Fourth Prison (Shijiazhuang Northern Suburban Prison).

Over the last few years, the Hebei Province Fourth Prison "Education Division" committed massive crimes against Falun Gong practitioners. They put Falun Dafa practitioners in solitary confinement in the reception room or studio, and used "Enduring Eagle," a torture method recommended by the Provincial 610 Office, to forcefully "transform" Dafa practitioners. They have used different kinds of deadly tortures against practitioners, and some of the practitioners have almost lost their lives. The so-called "Group Study" was really a forced brainwashing class. In the class, slanderous propaganda and the fake video clips were played repeatedly. The brutality of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners is worse than the Cultural Revolution.

A few practitioners betrayed Falun Dafa and even helped the evil to persecute practitioners after being brainwashed by the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) propaganda. Most of the people, however, are clear-headed. Some of the kind-natured prisoners understood the truth of the persecution after seeing the madness of the evil. Under the influence of Dafa practitioners' righteous thoughts, righteous actions and compassion, some of the prisoners have awakened, and two of them have begun to practice Falun Dafa.