(Minghui.org) The Chinese forced labor camp system has not really shut down. Although many of the former forced labor camps have released their prisoners and many others have changed their signs to read “Drug Rehabilitation Center,” the labor system is operating in another form. Sentences are being served outside of the camps, and people are being monitored by telephone.

The Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp has restricted the release of Falun Gong practitioners into many categories, such as: release in advance, medical parole, sentence to be service outside, etc. “Sentence to be served outside” is targeted at those practitioners who refused to “transform.” The labor camps have ordered them to report to the prison weekly by phone to detail where they have been and what they have done. They also are required to notify the forced labor camp and the local police station in advance if they are to be out of town. The case of Ms. Zhang Fengying is not an isolated incident. ( Persecution Continues Despite Closure of Some Forced Labor Camps ).

The date for the practitioners to report to the authorities is preset. Labor camp guards emphasize on every call that the practitioners are not “ to contact people in society” and are to “stay home quietly”, etc. The authorities will call the practitioner if he or she does not call by the designated time. The practitioners will be asked why she or he did not call and what he or she is doing. They will even go to the practitioner's home to check on them.

The Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp created a way to punish employers and family members if the illegal monitoring system is not followed. The practitioner's employer and families were forced to sign an agreement that supports the weekly reports to the authorities and other unlawful monitoring activities of practitioners. When practitioners refuse to cooperate, the camp authorities threaten the practitioners' families and employers by using the signed agreement.