(Minghui.org)

Slave Labor Products Made in the Shandong 1st Women's Forced Labor Camp

(Reports from Shandong Province) Dozens of forced labor products are made at the Shandong 1st Women's Forced Labor Camp, located at Jiangshuiquan Road No. 20, Lixia District, Jinan City.

These products, which are exported to other countries, include plastic leaves, offensive smelling Christmas trees, and children’s toy animals, such as deer, tigers, and small horses. The frames of these products are all made with reinforced bars and stuffed with man-made fiberfill.

Some of the products that are distributed in China include tamper-proof labels put on top of the Shuanghe Brand Hypertension Pill Box, one-time-use sterilized needles, and the container for the 2010 Linuo Brand Mid-autumn Moon-cake.

A Glimpse of the Shady Practices in Meizhou Prison, Guangdong Province

(Reports from Guangdong Province) The 7th District of Meizhou Jail in Guangdong Province is involved in machine tool manufacturing. A company close to Qiuyunqiao, Meizhou, focuses on making vehicle parts. Unknown to the public, this company is now the major client for Meizhou Prison, which actually produces all of its parts.

The 1st, 3rd, 6th, and 9th Districts of the prison produce mainly environment-friendly bags for the Shantou Company, which has its own factory. They receive a lot of orders online, mostly from Europe. The year before last, there were still three districts in Jieyang Prison. These later all transferred to Meizhou Prison.

The No. 12 District is the “Old and Handicapped District,” because it mainly holds the old and handicapped, and some prisoners that have networked their way in. This group produces mainly environmentally-friendly bags.

The No. 10 District produced rattan products, but later changed to making electronics. The other districts produce wool sweaters, pajamas, clothes, or electronics.

The current head of Meizhou Prison, Wu Hanming, came to this position after being transferred from Jiaoling Prison. Wu Hanming always pursued money, and, in order to exploit more out of the prisoners, he forced them to work even on holidays.

The prison claimed that there were “medium priced” goods available for purchase inside the prison, but all their prices were above the normal or even several times higher. The prison's annual profits were at least several million dollars.

The Guangdong Province Prison Administrative Bureau and Meizhou Prison shared the same stock. At times, the Guangdong Province Prison Administrative Bureau sent someone to check the prices, but that was just for show. They would lower the price a little bit at the time, but it would go up after a while.

Meizhou Prison administrators really know how to make a profit from their forced labor products. They gave out a large amount of money in bribes and treated potential clients very well. When the staff from the Guangdong Province Prison Administrative Bureau came to do their research, they would turn around at the cells before showing up at the restaurant.

There was also bribery regarding bail and reducing sentences. If those who were due to be released on bail did not cough up enough money, it was almost impossible for them to get out. Inmates also needed to pay if they wanted their sentences reduced.

Forced Labor in Hebei Province Women's Prison and Xinji City Detention Center

“I was illegally arrested by the local police and taken to the Hebei Province Xinji City Detention Center in July 2008. The food was horrible, and very often there wasn’t enough, yet we were forced to do hard labor.

The women were forced to needle through a hole for the file bag – that is, to needle through a one-dollar-size paper. The work was long and tiring. Sometimes, our fingernails fell off.

The CCP court unlawfully sentenced me to several years in the Hebei Province Women's Prison, where I was subjected to very severe forced labor persecution. The main products made there were military uniforms, a windbreaker, and a police uniform. We had to get up at 6:00 a.m. and work until after midnight. Sometimes we had to work overtime for over a month at a time. On occasion, when the contract expired and the job was not finished, we were forced to work without sleep for two nights in a row to get the work done.

Forced labor workers did nothing but work, eat, and go to the washroom. Sometimes we had less than 10 minutes to eat. If we could not finish our quota, we were not allowed to finish eating.

Falun Gong practitioners who refused to be "transformed" were kept awake by a group of prisoners taking turns watching them for several nights. They used all kinds of tactics to persecute the practitioners until they were “transformed.” And all the persecution was kept secret. Even other prisoners did not know that this kind of thing was happening. On my release, many Falun Gong practitioners were still being held and persecuted there.”

Forced Labor Products Made in the Wuhan City Baofenglu Women's Prison

Wuhan City Baofenglu Women's Prison persecutes the Falun Gong practitioners held there. There are seven cells in all. The building on the left side of the entrance holds cells 3, 5, and 6. In the middle and on the right sides another four cells.

The main products made in this prison are mostly clothes. In summer, they make cotton jackets, including children’s. In winter, they make skirts and Western-style suits. Some of these clothes are made for Wuhan City Hanzheng Street, but most of the clothes are exported. Baofenglu Women's Prison also makes male police uniforms.

Forced Labor Persecution in Wanjia Forced Labor Camp

“At the end of 2000, I was arrested and sentenced to forced labor for one year, until the end of 2001, in the notorious Wanjia Forced Labor Camp. At that time, there were over 150 practitioners held there. At one time in one city, over 80 people were taken into custody. No legal procedures were observed, and they were put in three big buses and taken directly to this forced labor camp.

The forced labor in Wanjia Forced Labor Camp included wrapping the soles of shoes, braiding hemp, and threading beads.

Wrapping shoe soles involved covering the sole of the shoe with glue and wrapping it with a layer of material. It is a kind of one-time-use slipper for showering. They were said to be exported to Japan. The smell of the chemical glues was very offensive and irritating, and very harmful to humans. When the order came in, they were delivered to all the different cells, where practitioners and criminal inmates had to do the work. Practitioners protested against this form of persecution by going on a hunger strike, writing letters, and directly clarifying the truth.

The hemp was braided for car cushions. It was very dusty and also harmful to the hands.

Threading beads was also to make cushions. It is very tiring on the eyes and heavy as well. There was no protection at all.

The three meals provided were very bad. Breakfast was very thin porridge and corn pudding, mixed with some sand, which was very irritating to the teeth. In winter for lunch and dinner it was always frozen cabbage soup and frozen radish soup, which was gritty and seemed to have not been washed, and there was sand at the bottom of the bowl. In summer, it was cucumber soup or eggplant soup. Even with such bad meals, there still was not enough food for the prisoners. In the cold winter, after eating the cold soup and meal, they were still hungry and cold, just as if they hadn’t eaten anything.

The forced labor camp also extorted money. When visitors came, the forced labor camp police would put up new recipes on the wall for the visitors to look at so as to cover up their crimes.

Besides forced labor persecution, the police did not allow Falun Gong practitioners to study the Fa or do their exercises. They would swear at the practitioners, put them in small cells, and torture them in all kinds of ways, including force-feeing. They persecuted the practitioners in order to destroy their righteous belief. The police were guilty of the most heinous crimes. Good will be rewarded with good and bad will eventually be punished. Those evil police officers who are not repentant will eventually be tried by history and will forever be humiliated.”

What I have written about the forced labor persecution in different prisons is only a brief glimpse. If there is anything missing or incomplete, those who are aware of it, please continue to provide more details to expose the ongoing persecution.