The Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners at Yunnan Province First Prison (Part 1)

(Minghui.org) The Yunnan Province First Prison is known to be a prison for major male criminal offenders, many of whom are on death row, and foreign prisoners. Since the Chinese communist regime initiated its persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, at least 160 practitioners have been imprisoned in Yunnan prison.

Most practitioners are held in the first ward, known also as the training ward. It has been confirmed that 28 practitioners were held there. Practitioners who remained steadfast in their belief were placed under strict management, and subjected to the horror of a brutal persecution. At least four practitioners have been persecuted to death, while a disabled veteran lost his eyesight as a result of the torture.

Strict Management

The 1st ward, also known as the 13th ward before 2003, was renamed as the 1st ward after 2004. Prisoners, excluding Falun Gong practitioners, are taken to the 1st ward for 3 months of training, and the main criminal offenders are placed under strict management upon entering the prison. After the training, they are moved to other wards. There now exist 12 wards in Yunnan Province First Prison.

The prison guards called themselves “the government” in the prison. Those who oppose the guards would be treated as opposing the government. In other words, a person has no rights in that prison.

“Training Education”

The inmates are watched by prisoners who act as ordered by the guards’ instruction. Every ward has a prisoner reform committee, labor production team that helps the guards with production work, regulatory review team, study group, literary and reporting team, and a life, and health team.

The reform committee appoints an inmate as director, and one or two inmates as the deputy directors. Other teams have a team leader, and a deputy team leader. The reform committee helps the guards control prisoners, and could be assigned to help the ward and guards handle shady businesses. The (inmate) directors go back and forth between the guards, wards, and prison offices. Some have a lot of power. They could deceive the authorities, and pressurize other inmates. Others have a small kitchen where they keep vegetables, meat, and prohibited items such as alcohol. Some junior guards even have let them handle existing issues.

Military training style was initially used for the training education. Later, inmates were forced to do manual labor every day to earn money for the ward, and attend the military training during breaks, and at night. Inmates, including foreign prisoners and those who are illiterate, also have to memorize the prison rules. Those who could not remember the rules by heart would be punished.

The manual labor include picking beans, mushrooms, and peppers while squatting down. They were also forced to grind gems, thread beads, make paper bags and cartons. Besides there are no safety precautions. The inmates work all year long without given getting a break during holidays or Sundays. The work resulted in some inmates developing illnesses or becoming disabled. Some became blind, some were afflicted with tuberculosis, and various other diseases, and some died due to the heavy work load. 

Torture Methods Used

There are guards who are specifically in charge of managing Falun Gong practitioners. The prison rules state that Falun Gong practitioners who refused to be “transformed” will be placed under strict management, and two to five inmates would be assigned to monitor one practitioner. 

Torture methods used against practitioners include forcing them to watch recordings and videos that slander Falun Gong. Also, they may be prohibited communication or visitation with families, or attending entertainment activities, and reading books and newspapers. 

Other commonly used physical tortures are sitting/squatting/standing for long hours without moving, solitary confinement, hanging up by the wrists for days, wearing a straitjacket, beatings, electric shocks, spraying pepper water on the face, and sleep deprivation. 

Setting Up of the Strict Management Team

The prison set up a strict management team to strengthen the penalties for those who violate the rules. Those who violate the rules are taken to the first ward and placed under strict management – they could be subjected to torture. Those under strict management are given only two taels (~approx. 0.16 pounds) of rice and some vegetables. [Tael: Any of the various units of weight used in eastern Asia, roughly equivalent to 38 grams (1-1/3 ounces).]

The strict management area is split into three levels. The first level consists of wearing handcuffs, shackles, and sitting on a stool. The handcuffs are removed when going to the restroom or sleeping. The second level includes punishment by standing, squatting, standing under the sun, doing labor work, in addition to the methods used in the first level. The third level consists of wearing handcuffs and shackles, hanging up by the wrists with their bodies suspended in the air, locked in a metal cage, or squatting.

After being released from strict management, some inmates were on the verge of death, and had to be carried out of the torture area, while others became disabled. If they died, the prison would issue a “death from illness” notice.

Persecution Cases of Falun Gong Practitioners

Partial List of Practitioners Who Are or Have Been Detained (Arranged by incarceration year and number in parentheses indicates prison sentence.) 

1999 – Liang Dong (3) and Lyu Songhe (3)
2000 – Li Yunfu (5), Chen Xiaoguai (5), Huang Guiping (5), Kong Huaqiang (term unknown)2001 – Wan Yongsheng (5), Duan Yiwu (4), Li Yongshan (4), Yang Zhengguo (4), Dong Guozhao (3), Dai Penshun (3), Chen Yao (3), Wang Zuogen (3), Jing Yunfei (2), Ji Guangkui (2), Wu Mingcai (term unknown), Zhang Wenliang (term unknown)2002 – Yang Zhu (3), Zhang Fang (3), He Youlin (2), Zhou Mofang (term unknown) 
2003 – Feng Baoding (4), Chi Zhi (3.6), Liu Yiqing (3), Liu Mingzhong (3), Mu Qidang (3), Zhang Xu (3), Shen Ming (3), Yan Zhengshu (2)2004 – Han Zhenkun (7), Pu Zhiming (4), husband of Zhang Xiaoling (4), Di Jianchao (4), Hu Xianding (3), Yan Kaiwen (3), Zheng Zhiyang (3), Hou Fayong (3), Fei Xuelong (term unknown)2005 – Li Zhen (6), Gao Mengyuan (5), Ye Baofu (5), Pu Zheng (4), Hu Bingqing (4), Li Xianze (4), Wan Guoliang (4), Zhu Bing (4), Sun Yunji (3), Chen Guanghua (3), Du Yingxiang (3), Zhang Zhengqiao (3), Wu Mingcai (2), He Jingchun (2), Han Junyi (term unknown)2006 – Zhao Yue (9), Wang Yun (5), Bao Yuanjin (4), Wang Guirong (3), Yan Guizheng (2), Wu Baoyuan (2.6), Ding Baoliang (2)2007 – Fang Zhengping (6), Hao Mingxin (5), You Quanming (5), Li Linshu (3), Dong Qikun (3), Zhou Zhiming (3)2008 – Shen Shaoqing (7), Lei Yunbo (5), Li Kunping (4), Guo Hongyun (4), Dong Zhikun (3), Li Peigao (3), Dong Mingzu (term unknown) 2009 – Luo Taiyou (5), Li Wenbo (5), Deng Zhixu (5), He Youlin (4), Li Yongkun (4), Yang Xingchun (3.5), Wu Guiyou (3), Hu Guanming (3), Yan Jingxiong (3), Li Taoyou (3), Chen Yahong (3), Hao Minxing (3), Shi Zongpei (3), Qiang Hui (3), Zhou Defu (term unknown), Shi Xuehui (term unknown), Wang Feng (term unknown), Li Jianqiang (term unknown), Liu Feng (term unknown)2010 – Ma Guozhong (4), Yan Guisheng (3), Zhang Xu (3), Shen Zhuyou (3), Tan Shitian (2.6), Tang Jirong (2)
2011 – Yang Mingzhong (6), Ling Yubiao (5), Chen Danyu (3), Xu Qingfu (2), Lai Yuanchuan (term unknown), He Anxiang (term unknown), Xiang Youlin (term unknown), Wang Hanwei (term unknown)2012 – Wu Xinming (5), Bai Longjun (3), Hu Jinzhao (3), Zhang Liang (3)2013 – Ma Xuyong (9), Zhang Shilin (7), Li Quan (7), Dao Penshun (6), Su Kun (6), Ye Baofu (6), Dai Penshun (6), Li Ke (6), Liu Yong (4), Jiang Yunnan (3), Cai Chun (term unknown)2014 – Han Zhenkun (5), Di Jianchao (4.6), Yang Ziqiang (3.6), Gao Kuaqi (3.6), Zhu Zhongfu (3), Gao Zemeng (term unknown)2015 – Wang Zhengli (7.6), Wang Xianshu (5), Zhang Liang (3), Gao Xingdong (3)2016 – Deng Hui (6), Wen Chunfu (4), Li Peigao (4), Shi Jianwei (term unknown)2017 –  Wu Guangcheng (5)2018 – Liao Jianfu (4), Fu Wende (3.6), Feng Baoding (3), Yu Guangming (3), Zhou Fuming (2)2019 – Li Wenbo (5), Wu Xinming (5)Year unknown – Lin Tianqing (5), Yang Xingchun (5), Li Nan (4), Lei Yunbo (3), Huang Wenxing (3), Yang Wenqing (3), Zhou Defu (term unknown), Zhu Yaming (term unknown), Wang (first name and term unknown) 

Death Cases

Injected With Unknown Drugs, Beaten, and Force-fed

Mr. Luo Jiangping from Miyi County in Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province was arrested in January 2012 in Nanhua County, Chuxiongzhou (Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture), Yunnan Province. He was sentenced to a four-and-a-half year term, and was detained at the first ward of the prison. As he refused to be “transformed,” he was handcuffed, shackled, beaten, injected with unknown drugs, forced to do intense labor, put in solitary confinement, and force-fed. His teeth and gums were all black, and his teeth were covered with coagulated blood. The inside of his mouth turned rotten. 

Mr. Luo Jiangping with his wife and daughter

Mr. Luo Jiangping before he passed away

Three months after being imprisoned, Mr. Luo was in critical condition. Therefore, he was released on medical parole on December 23, 2013. He passed away five days later on December 28, 2013 at the age of 51.

Related report:Mr. Luo Jiangping Dies from Torture and Injections of Poisonous Drugs

Developed Diabetes from Injection of Toxic Drugs

Mr. Zheng Zhiyang, a Chongqing resident, was arrested in Anning City in December 2004 for distributing Falun Gong materials. After a judge sentenced him to three years, he was taken to Yunnan Province First Prison, and assigned to do labor work, such as picking and sorting various beans to be exported globally.

He tried to tell the guards that he had not committed any crime, and tried to persuade them not to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. However, he was handcuffed and shackled, and placed under strict management where his hands were handcuffed to a metal rail. He was not allowed to sit and could only squat down. If he resisted, he would be beaten. He was given very little rice and some vegetables or soup. This lasted for more than three months.

After he was released from strict management, he was emaciated and could not stand any longer effortlessly. He developed symptoms of diabetes. He was transferred to the second ward before he was taken back to the first ward again.

Despite his poor health, he was still forced to work. The inmate assigned to monitor him prohibited him from sitting on the bed, putting his legs together, or closing his eyes. He would be beaten if he did not cooperate. He tried to report the abuses to the prison management, but to no avail.

Mr. Zheng went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution, and was on the verge of death. When he was taken to the prison hospital, he was injected with toxic drugs and forced to take unknown medicine. This continued until he was released in December 2007 when his term was up.

Torture re-enactment: Injection of unknown drugs 

He died not long after he was released – in December 2010 at the age of 36.

Persecuted to Death, Body Cremated Against Family’s Will

Mr. Shi Jianwei, an English teacher, and his wife, Ms. Xiao Zhu, a physical education teacher, were both employed at Binchuan County No.1 Middle School in Yunnan Province. The couple was arrested at home on September 7, 2015, after the police found out that they filed a criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the communist regime, who launched the persecution. Mr. Shi was beaten in the basement of the police department by more than 10 officers. 

Mr. Shi Jianwei 

Mr. Shi was later sentenced to 6.5 years at Yunnan Province No. 1 Prison and Ms. Xiao to 5 years at Yunnan Province No. 2 Women’s Prison.

Two years later, on August 25, 2021, his family received a call from the prison that Mr. Shi was suspected of having contracted liver cancer and had been taken to the prison hospital. The prison still refused to release him on medical parole or allow his family to visit him. Given the decision of non-cooperation, his family was also forbidden to review his medical record, citing the pandemic, and Mr. Shi’s refusal to renounce Falun Gong. 

A month later, September 26, a prison guard called Mr. Shi’s family saying that he was on the verge of death and was being resuscitated. His family asked to visit him, but prison officials refused again. 

Three hours later, the family received a call, informing them that Mr. Shi had stopped breathing. The family were ordered to sign his cremation agreement. When the family saw Mr. Shi’s body at the funeral home, they noticed that he had bruises on his back and fluid accumulation in his abdomen. Suspecting he was tortured, they refused to sign the cremation permission, and also demanded to see his medical record. However, the guards still cremated Mr. Shi’s body against the families decision shortly after. He was 56.

Related report:English Teacher Imprisoned for His Faith Dies in Custody, Foul Play Suspected

Forced to Do Labor Work, Died After Release from Prison

Mr. Sun Yunji, self-employed from Kunming City, was arrested with several other Falun Gong practitioners when they went to Tibet on vacation. He was sentenced to three years, and imprisoned in the first ward of Yunnan Province First Prison. There, he was subjected to brainwashing and forced to do intense labor work – picking beans. He passed away in 2019.

(To be continued.)

Related reports:

How Falun Gong Practitioners are Tortured at First Prison of Yunnan Province

Crimes Committed Against Falun Gong Practitioners by the No. 1 Prison in Yunnan Province

The Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in Yunnan Prison