Mr. Chen Baihe's one eye is blind in jail, but prison authorities claimed he needed to be blind in both eyes in order to be qualified for medical parole.

Mr. Chen Baihe in Serious Condition in Prison, Authorities Prohibit Medical Parole

Name: Chen Baihe
Gender:Male
Age: 59
Address: Shalinzhi Village, Qianxi County, Tangshan City, Hebei Province
Occupation: Unknown
Recent Arrest: May, 2006
Recent place of detention: Jidong Prison
City: Tangshan City
Province: Hebei Province
Persecution Suffered: Unknown
Key Persecutors: He Lizhi, Xu Ziqiu

Mr. Chen Baihe was illegally sentenced to a four-year jail term in January 2007 in Jidong Prison. Mr. Chen now is now blind in one eye and has very high blood pressure. His family members believe that he should see a doctor independent from the prison medical system but they have been refused by Jidong Prison.

In mid July 2009, Chen Baihe's wife and his daughter went to visit him in the prison and found that his eye was abnormal. Mr Chen told them his left eye was now blind, his right eye was blurred and he now has high blood pressure too. The prison had never mentioned this to his family before.

Seeking help for Mr. Chen, a family member called the prison department heads He Lizhi and Xu Zhiqiu and requested that he be allowed to see a doctor outside the prison. They replied they would need to verify his health status to see if he is qualified to see outside doctors. Two days later, the family member requested again for Chen to seek medical help outside of the prison and they said that Chen was not qualified and that they should not make this kind of request in the future.

On August 3, the family went to the prison headquarter located at Jiantuozhi town, Fengnan district, to further their request for Chen. The personnel said that Director Zhao was in charge of the issue, so the family appealed to Zhao for Chen's medical parole. Zhao said he would notify the 5th Detachment to examine Chen Baihe. However, one week later, when Chen Baihe's wife, his daughter and the head of Shalinzhi Villege asked for the result of the examination, the reply was that Chen was not qualified and he needed to be blind in both eyes in order to be qualified. When asked what if Chen Baihe's condition worsens, Zhao stated that his health problems won't develop that quickly and if it did the prison could do surgery for him, but they could not guarantee the treatment and would not be responsible. Chen Baihe's family is very worried about his deteriorating health.

In May 2006, Chen Baihe was illegally arrested by the Domestic Security Team of Qianxi county police department and the local police station when he was distributing materials about the persecution of Falun Gong in Yuhuzai village, Qianxi county. In January 2007, Qianxi county court seriously violated the legal proceeding and sentenced Chen Baihe to a four-year prison term. His family members appealed to the intermediate people's court in Tangshan city and the court appeal was ignored, as they kept the original four-year sentence. Soon after they transferred Chen Baihe to the 7th Squadron of  the 5th Detachment, where he has been detained up to now.

Over the last couple of years, the Domestic Security Team illegally searched Chen Baihe's house many times. With no explanation or reason they unlawfully stole two computers and one printer from the Chen family home.