Methods of Torture Used on Falun Gong Practitioners in Fanjiatai Prison

(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners in Hubei Province are usually held in Fanjiatai Prison. On average, 100 practitioners are incarcerated there at any one time. The prison employs many different methods of torture, both physical and mental.

The prison is located in Jingmen City, Hubei Province, in central China.

Monitor and Isolation

Guards assign two to six inmates as “personal monitors” once a practitioner is admitted to the prison. The “personal monitors” carry out the first line of torture. They force the practitioner to stand against the wall and not to talk, look at, smile at, or gesture to anyone. Some practitioners have a hoarse voice or even stammer from not talking for a long time.

Guards encourage all the other inmates to hit, kick, and isolate the practitioners.

Brainwashing

The prison tries to change the practitioners’ minds using lies, mental torture, and psychological tactics.

The practitioners are routinely lied to, such as being told that Falun Gong practitioners committed suicide on Tiananmen Square, even though the media outside of China have already reported that the Chinese Communist Party staged the immolation event to frame Falun Gong.

The prison invites “experts” to try to confuse practitioners with fallacies. These “experts” include professor Liu Jiajun from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, psychologist Yan Fuhai, national “Moral Model” Wu Tianxiang, and employees of other anti-Falun Gong work units. Some of them come regularly.

Political instructor Ding Chenghe invented a “Resentment Treatment” to use on practitioners. The guards first treat practitioners violently and with indifference. Then they express “compassion” by pretending to care about the practitioner’s health and family. They also promise practitioners the head position in their prison cell so that they do not have to do hard labor. Some practitioners fall into the trap and give up their faith.

The guards also order the practitioners to write statements to claim they “regret practicing” and denounce Falun Gong. The practitioners that refused to comply were then tortured.

Torture

“Digging the Wall:” This is the basic method of torture used most often. The person stands three feet away from a wall and leans forward until his head touches the wall. The person is not allowed to sleep. The legs of practitioners tortured like this swell up. For some, their feet are so damaged that they can only crawl.

Physical Abuse: Both guards and “personal monitors” beat practitioners often. They hit or kick practitioners, slap their faces, hit them in the head with a stick, grab their collarbones, and knead their testicles.

Torture Reenactment: Beating

“Personal monitors” also frequently insult the practitioners. They write insulting words on paper and then stick them on the practitioner’s face, wall, or bed. They even organize inmates to curse practitioners and their family members.

Sleep Deprivation and Starvation: Some practitioners were not allowed to sleep for three days, or even seven days, and some were only allowed to sleep for four hours a day. When Mr. Li Daohui refused to give up his belief, he was only given a spoonful of rice each meal for a long time.

No Access to Personal Necessities, No Visitation Rights: Guards do not allow practitioners to buy basic necessities, such as toilet paper, soap, and toothpaste. Practitioners who refuse to give up their faith are not allowed to see their relatives (even if they come) or talk to them over the phone.

Force-feeding: When practitioners hold hunger strikes to protest how they are being treated, they are forced to “Dig the Wall.” After they become too weak to stand, the guards drag them to the prison hospital. To force-feed them, the guard ties the practitioner to a bed and sticks a plastic tube up his nose and down into his stomach. Mr. Liu Deyu, in his 60s, was force-fed for a month and became emaciated.

Torture Enactment: Force-feeding

Freezing: In cold weather, guards order the “personal monitors” to pour water all over the practitioner’s clothes. Mr. Zhang Xumin was dragged out into the cold wind after “personal monitors” soaked his coat, but he continued to explain Falun Gong to his tormentors and tell them about the law of retribution.

Stabbing: When a practitioner who is deprived of sleep closes his eyes, the “personal monitors” stab him with a toothpick or a needle. Mr. Chen Quanlong was tied up and put outside so that the mosquitoes could feed on him. Another monitor stabbed his feet as a form of entertainment.

Forcing to Drink Urine: “Personal monitors” did not let Mr. Liu Deyu go to the bathroom and forced him to drink his own urine.

Poisoning: Mr. Li Ming was force-fed with an unknown substance. His whole body swelled up afterward.

Handcuffed and Shackled: Mr. Li Wande was subjected to the “Big Hang-up.” Because he was handcuffed for a long time, the handcuffs cut into his wrists and his bones were visible. Maggots infested the wounds.

Torture Enactment: Big Hang-up

Tiger Bench: Guards tied Mr. Luo Wentao to a bench and would not release him when he needed to go to the bathroom. They also put earphones on him, turned the volume up to maximum, and made him listen to the CCP's fallacies and the prison rules.

Torture Enactment: Tiger Bench

Implicating Family Members

The prison staff often visited the homes of the arrested practitioners. They appear to be nice and ask the family to help to persuade the practitioners to give up their belief, claiming that the practitioner’s term would then be reduced.

If the practitioner refuses to give in, the guards then say that he does not care about his family and then attempt to turn his family against the practitioner and Dafa.

When a practitioner is released, the prison hands the practitioner over to the local 610 Office, not his family.

Fanjiatai Prison:Phone: [phone]Warden Zhuang Guangling (Police ID# 4244000）Political Commissar Ma Zhiyong (Police ID# 4244004）