Ms. Cao Shuanmei Beaten to Death in Shanxi Province Women's Prison

Name: Cao Shuangmei (曹双梅)
Gender: Female
Age: 52
Address: Lingshi County, Shanxi Province
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Death: July 2009
Date of Most Recent Arrest: January 2008
Most Recent Place of Detention: Second Ward of Shanxi Province Women's Prison (山西省女子监狱二队)
City: Jinzhong
Province: Shanxi
Persecution Suffered: Forced labor, beatings, imprisonment, torture, forced-feedings, home ransacked, interrogation, detention

(Clearwisdom.net) (By a correspondent from Shanxi Province) When Ms. Cao Shuangmei went to Jiexiu City to pass out truth clarifying materials in the summer of 2003, she was arrested, her home was ransacked, and she was detained. After going on a hunger strike for seven days to protest her imprisonment, the police released her.

One month later, the police arrested Ms. Cao again, without cause, and severely tortured her. To protest her imprisonment, she went on a hunger strike for more than twelve days. Fearing that Ms. Cao was on the verge of becoming critically ill, the police released her. Five to six months later, the police went to her home to arrest her once again, but she managed to escape.

Around January 20, 2008, eighteen days before the 2008 Chinese New Year, a group of officers from the Jirxiu County Police Department (under Jiexiu City) arrested Ms. Cao at her home. The police detained her for close to six months without informing her family.

Lei Runxiang, warden of the Second Ward at Shanxi Province Women's Prison, encouraged inmates to brutally beat Ms. Cao in her cell, eventually causing her untimely death in July 2009. In order to cover up their crime, the prison authorities lied to her family, saying that she had died due to a sudden heart attack. In addition, they suspended all visitation rights to the prison for a month and interrogated all detained Falun Gong practitioners.

Shanxi Province Women's Prison address: P.O. Box 8-7, Lingnan Street, Yuci District, Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province, China 030600
Li Tianjun, director: 86-354-3299801/3299888, 86-13903543708 (Cell)
Liu Lianrong, deputy director: 86-354-3299803/3299936, 86-13835458316 (Cell)
Xue Yuexian, deputy director: 86-354-3299804/3299858, 86-13935403264 (Cell)
Wang Tianbao, deputy director: 86-354-3299805/3299736, 86-13603549711 (Cell)
Zhou Jianfeng, deputy director: 86-354-3299806, 86-13603543434 (Cell)
Xu Shutang, chair of the Prison Management Office: 86-354-3299948 (Home), 86-354-3299940 (Office)
Lei Runxiang, second warden: 86-354-3299768 (Home), 86-354-3299975 (Office)
Wei Baogui, Chinese Communist Party secretary of the Shanxi Province Women's Prison: 86-354-3299802/3299988, 86-13603548796 (Cell)

Written on November 10, 2009