(Minghui.org) Since the persecution of Falun Gong began in July 1999, the authorities in the Shandong Province Women’s Prison have been relentlessly torturing incarcerated practitioners in an attempt to force them to give up their faith.
Some practitioners succumbed to the constant physical abuse and brainwashing. They not only renounced their faith but joined the guards in intensifying the psychological abuse of the steadfast practitioners in order to enjoy better treatment or receive term reductions. These former practitioners often had help from other prisoners and, under the guards’ instigation and protection, used cruel measures to “transform” the steadfast practitioners. These former practitioners’ behaviors are a testimony to how severely the Chinese prisons corrupt a person’s soul.
The following is an account of the crimes of some of these former practitioners.
Fu Guiying from Junan County, Linyi City renounced her faith and joined the guards in persecuting other practitioners soon after she was imprisoned in 2013. To please the authorities, she proposed to Xu Yumei, then deputy chief of the 11th Ward, to groom 20 to 30 practitioners to join them in “transforming” faithful practitioners.
The grooming process involved extreme tortures to break the practitioners’ will, and extensive brainwashing to turn them against other practitioners. In one case, Fu physically forced former practitioner Yang Meijuan from Longkou City to stretch her legs into a split every day, and bend her body to fit under a chair. The torture permanently damaged Yang’s spine. Yang gave in and joined Fu in torturing other practitioners.
Some inmates commented that some practitioners looked normal before, but as soon as they were transferred to Fu’s ward, they became as evil as Fu in no time.
These groomed former practitioners normally tortured the steadfast practitioners the way Fu tortured them. To make the most use of Fu, the guards put her in charge of all the groomed former practitioners and the head of the 11th Ward. Fu also arranged for an inmate to massage her when she became tired from torturing the practitioners. Guard Xu Yumei also allowed her to take a nap after lunch, in order to regain her energy to beat the steadfast practitioners.
The more practitioners the guards “transformed,” the more likely they’d be rewarded and promoted. Fu once bragged that it was the prison that paved the way for her success.
Fu worked with convicted murderer Lyu Yingchun to come up with various ways to torture the steadfast practitioners. She ordered everyone in the 11th Ward to physically and verbally assault whichever practitioner she was targeting at the moment. Whoever refused to do so would be her next target. She also forced the practitioners in the ward to write “thought reports” both at night and during the day. In the reports the practitioners had to first praise the guards and admit that they had committed crimes. Following that they had to slander Falun Gong and its founder, insult themselves, and then renounce Falun Gong. Whoever did not follow this format would have to rewrite it 50 to 200 times.
In addition to writing the “thought reports,” the practitioners were also forced to watch videos that slandered Falun Gong and its founder. Whoever moved their eyes away from the screen would be punched by Fu or stabbed in the neck with a pen.
Fu frequently organized criticism meetings, when everyone in the ward was ordered to criticize one practitioner. Anyone who refused to participate would become the target the next time. Fu and her followers also beat those who refused to cooperate with them and deprived them of sleep.
Ms. Zhou Dongdong from Jinan City refused to write statements to slander Falun Gong. Fu instigated a convicted murderer to break her finger. Fu then smashed her arm against the edge of a table and fractured her wrist. After Fu was released, her successor put Ms. Zhou in solitary confinement and applied even more vicious tortures. By the time Ms. Zhou was released in 2019, she was hunch-backed and disfigured, with disabled arms.
When Ms. Li Jianmei from Jinan City was taken to the prison, Fu woke her up at 5 a.m. and forced her to stand still all day until she went to bed at midnight. This lasted for a month, and Fu would not allow anyone to help Ms. Li up when she fell. Eventually her legs became swollen and developed infected sores. She could not walk without help, and neither could she straighten her back. This torture permanently damaged her legs and her lower back. Li later renounced her faith, and became the head of the ward. She’d torture other practitioners the same way.
Former practitioner Han Lianfeng from Shouguang City was the head of a different ward. She forced all practitioners in the ward to curse at Falun Gong and its founder 50 to 100 times every day. If any practitioner did not write the “thought report” the way she ordered, she’d label the practitioner as having “thought problems,” and report them to the guards. No matter how she tortured practitioners, the guards would turn a blind eye.
To create fear among practitioners, Han would out of nowhere curse at, beat, and stomp on them, including elderly practitioners in their 70s. She bragged about how she would have no consequences for what she did, “You (practitioners) are broken cars and need to be smashed. The guards have our backs. People die in prison. You will die in vain and I will not be responsible.” She worked with Fu and shared their experiences with other perpetrators.
When Han saw Ms. Wang Juan from Tai’an City wash the hair off her neck after a haircut, Han reported her to a guard and accused her of washing her hair outside of the cleaning time. The guard warned Ms. Wang and forced her to write a report. From then on Han used this incident as an excuse to target Ms. Wang.
One day, Han beat Ms. Guo Wenjuan from Jining City and tore her clothes. Ms. Guo felt so desperate that she tried to jump out of a window. Fu dragged Ms. Guo to a surveillance blind spot and beat her, while other prisoners cursed at her. Han then reported to a guard that Ms. Guo tried to cause disturbance. The guard then tortured her in solitary confinement.
Ms. Wang Hongfeng, 75, from Jinan City suffered a mental breakdown after being beaten by Han. Ms. Wang would not stop howling and twitching. The guard did not take Ms. Wang to a hospital until three days later.
Ms. Lu Xueqin witnessed Ms. Wang’s beating and cried out of fright. Han accused her of instigating Ms. Wang to cause disturbance. Despite the fact that Ms. Lu had heart problems, kidney stones, and hypertension, Han dragged her into a restroom, shut the door, choked and beat her. After she screamed for her life, the prisoners on duty opened the door and dragged her out. It was apparent that her neck was bruised. Han quickly covered her neck with a coat and claimed that it was to keep her warm.
During a ward-wide physical examination, the prison doctor saw bruises on Ms. Lu’s arms and asked her what had happened. She said she had been subjected to long-term torture by Han for over three years. She applied to be moved to another ward, but the guards didn’t approve the application.
Han’s family never visited her since she came to prison. She got agitated and angered when she saw other practitioners’ families visit them. She would curse and insult these practitioners after their family visits. Ms. Lu’s husband came to see her once a month, and Han insulted her husband. When Ms. Lu defended him, Han stomped on her feet and caused injuries, but she lied, saying that she had nothing to do with Ms. Lu’s injuries. Even a week later, Ms. Lu’s feet remained so swollen that she couldn’t fit into large men’s shoes.
Han knew that Ms. Lu had heart problems and could not catch her breath when she smelled the toilet disinfectant. Han would call for a large amount of toilet disinfectant, pour it into the commode and on the ground, and lock Ms. Han in the restroom until she had trouble breathing. Han did the same to Ms. Yan Xiling from Qingdao City, who would choke and have a stomachache near the disinfectant.
Every week Han would pour the disinfectant in the restroom, lock Ms. Lu in there for ten minutes, and release her while she breathed heavily and was covered in sweat. Han would then have Ms. Yan go in to clean the restroom with the door locked, and let her out when she could not stop coughing and had trouble breathing. Ms. Lu’s heart problems and hypertension worsened because of the torture, and she was often hospitalized. Ms. Yan’s stomach hurt so badly that she had trouble eating. Han would purposely force her to eat cold food to exacerbate the pain.
The prison authorities transferred Ms. Lu to another ward in September 2018. Han found the head of the ward and told her how to torture Ms. Lu with the disinfectant.
When former practitioner Cui Lili from Laizhou City tortured practitioners in a solitary confinement cell, she often screamed and cried and seemed psychotic. She would assault and curse the practitioners out of nowhere. The guards knew that she had mental problems and she could not control her emotions. However they continued to use her to persecute the practitioners.
Cui reported Ms. Jiang Tao from Pingdu City to a guard and had her locked in solitary confinement. The guard ordered other prisoners to beat Ms. Jiang and twist her arms every day until the day she was released. Her wrist was dislocated and her arm was permanently damaged as a result.
Ms. Lyu Yonghua and Ms. Song Guixiang from Qingdao City could not sleep well at night as Cui constantly verbally abused them and beat them during the day. Ms. Lyu became mentally incoherent and also had a hard time urinating.
Ms. Yin Delan from Qingdao City fainted in the restroom as a result of Cui’s tortures. Cui accused her of faking it and intensified the abuse. Wherever Ms. Yin went, Cui followed her and constantly cursed at her. By the time Ms. Yin left the prison, she had become mentally incoherent and disfigured. She would not respond to others and often cried.
Ms. Zhang Chenglan from Jinan City suffered tortures from Fu and Cui. Cui beat her and made her stand still every day until she was released in 2019. While beating Ms. Zhang, Cui shouted at her, “As long as you are here, don’t expect to live one day in peace!”
Former practitioner Li Qin from Tai’an City had gone through higher education and was specifically trained by Fu to torture the practitioners. She was insidious and cunning. She admired how Fu mentally manipulated the practitioners and learned many tricks from her. Whenever things didn’t go her way, she would report on the practitioners, making false accusations against them.
Because no inmates got along with or wanted to work with Li, she asked the guards to arrange an inmate who practiced another religion to help her monitor the practitioners around the clock. That person would report to her whatever the practitioners said and did, often with exaggeration, to give her excuses to torture the practitioners.
When Ms. Yu Peiling from Beijing was locked in solitary confinement, Li and another former practitioner beat her until she could not get up. They kicked and stomped on her until they became exhausted themselves.
Other practitioners who were tortured by Li included Ms. Qi Yuling, Ms. Jiang Shu’e, Ms. Tian Yongwen, Ms. Li Hailei, Ms. Shi Hongyun, Ms. Feng Guirong, Ms. Han Lixiang and Ms. Zhang Chunxiang.
Additional Information on Other Inmates Torturing Practitioners at Shandong Province Women’s Prison
The Mental Exploitation of Falun Gong Practitioners at Shandong Province Women’s Prison
Convicted Felons Instigated by Prison Guards to Torture Falun Gong Practitioners