Human Rights Abuses in Jiangxi Province Women's Prison

(Minghui.org) Jiangxi Province Women's Prison is one of the most infamous facilities in China for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. It has used innumerable methods of torture to try to force Falun Gong practitioners to give up their faith, such as making them to stand still for long periods of time, intensive slave labor, beatings, hanging them up in the air, tying them up, humiliation, coercive brainwashing, administration of nerve-altering drugs, and sleep deprivation, among others.

Practitioners incarcerated there have been persecuted severely. Some have lost their lives, such as Luo Chunrong and Zhang Shujun of Nanchang City and Li Liefeng of Xinyu City.

Luo ChunrongZhang ShujunLi Liefeng

Jiangxi Province Women's Prison was built in 1958. It has nine wards and currently employs around 200 female guards. Falun Gong practitioners are detained separately in the wards, and each ward has a specially appointed “instructor” who oversees the persecution of practitioners.

The following are the ten methods of torture most commonly used on Falun Gong practitioners at Jiangxi Province Women's Prison.

Standing Still for Long Periods of Time

Almost every practitioner detained in the prison has been tortured this way.

Torture illustration: Forced standing for long periods of time

Yang Danhe, in her 60s, from Shangrao City was often forced to stand still from morning until night and sometimes into the early morning hours. She has even been made to stand for 24 hours straight.

Wu Zhiping, also in her 60s, was tortured this way for two weeks, during which she was only allowed to use the restroom once each day.

Fu Jinfeng, in her 50s, from Nanchang was once forced to stand for six days and nights. One night in September 2016, after being forced to stand on and off for eight and a half months, she collapsed, injuring her head.

Wang Tuanyuan, an elderly practitioner from Gaoan, was forced to stand from 6:00 a.m. until midnight for over 20 days in a row. Both her feet became badly swollen.

Jiang Lanying from Nanchang was forced to stand still for 16 hours a day for nine months straight. She was not allowed to lean against the wall or have any support. She developed severe swelling and varicose veins in both of her legs.

Xiong Quanmei, in her 60s and also from Nanchang, was forced to stand still for more than ten hours a day. When her feet became too swollen for shoes, she was forced to stand barefoot on the concrete floor.

Huang Yindi, also in her 60s, was forced to stand still for almost 24 hours a day with no breaks and no sleep. Both her legs became extremely swollen, the skin turned black and blue, and even her face swelled up. At one point, her condition was critical.

Wang Fengying, in her 70s, was forced to stand still from morning until after midnight every day.

Ge Ling, an elderly practitioner from Yongxiu, suffered uterine prolapse due to this torture. Her uterus would protrude each time she used the restroom, and she had to push it back in, causing her great pain.

Slave Labor

Most Falun Gong practitioners detained in Jiangxi Women's Prison are between the ages of 50 and 70. Many of them are subjected to intense forced labor for upholding their beliefs.

Torture illustration: High-intensity forced labor

Tian Haiying from Jiujiang was forced to work all day long. When she could not finish her quota during the day, she was not allowed to use the restroom or sleep. Sometimes, she was even hung up on a window frame.

When she was taken back to the cell, she would be forced to copy the prison rules, balance books on her head, or stand still against the wall. She was also forced to work overtime, from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. the next day. This went on for four weeks straight.

The forced labor in Ward 6 involved putting covers on umbrellas, one of the most strenuous tasks in the prison. This was all done by Falun Gong practitioners.

Every eight or ten minutes, the practitioners would have to bend over to push baskets of umbrellas to their work tables (each basket weighed around 40 kilos). They had to put covers on umbrellas one by one, and each basket had to be finished within ten minutes. They then had to pack up the umbrellas and stack up the boxes. All this was done manually.

Liu Xiaoci, in her 70s, fell on the uneven floor and could not get up on her own. The guards on duty would not let anyone help her.

Verbal Abuse and Violent Beatings

Abusing Falun Gong practitioners with crude language and beatings is common practice in Jiangxi Province Women's Prison.

Torture illustration: Beating and smashing the victim’s head against wall

Yang Danhe was once abused and beaten for 24 hours by inmates that had been encouraged by the guards. When Yang could no longer stand up, they dragged her around on the floor until her clothes were torn and she was bruised black and blue. When she passed out, they poured cold water over her to bring her to. They also grabbed her head and smashed it against the wall.

Because she was often beaten like this, she was usually dizzy and her face was severely bruised. She was also covered with dark purple bruises. For months, she had sharp pains on the right side of her chest and could not breathe properly for a long time.

Criminal inmates often verbally abused Xiong Quanmei, attacking not only her but also her ancestors and the founder of Falun Gong.

Several inmates beat Wu Zhiping while she was in bed. They slapped her, punched her, and kicked her. Inmate Wu Ting also pinched and twisted Wu Zhiping's flesh all over her body. The pain was unbearable.

Fu Jinfeng was punched and kicked by two inmates, and one of her ears was almost torn off. She had dark bruises and lumps all over. Guards Wu Yanping and Chen Ying looked on and did nothing as this happened.

Wang Tuanyuan was tied onto a tiger bench for three days. When she was allowed to use the restroom, she was stripped naked and beaten by Jin Jie, an inmate assigned by the guards to monitor her.

Torture illustration: Tied on “Tiger Bench”

Chen Xiaojuan was slapped in the face and had balm oil rubbed into her eyes, which permanently impaired her vision in her left eye.

Hanging in the Air

Being hung up in the air is one of the cruelest and most painful methods of torture used on Falun Gong practitioners in prisons across China.

Torture illustration: Hanging in the air

The inmates tied Yang Danhe's feet to the lower frame of a bunk bed and stuffed her mouth with rags. An inmate on the upper bed then yanked on her handcuffs. Yang Danhe screamed in pain. When she was eventually untied, all her fingers were deformed and her lower body had turned black and blue.

Guard Chen Qi ordered three inmates to handcuff Wang Tuanyuan behind her back, then hang her up in the air between two bunk beds.

On a different occasion, Wu Zhiping was handcuffed and tied up. She was forced to stand on a stool, which was then taken away, leaving her hanging in the air. All of her body weight fell onto her cuffed wrists, and the pain was excruciating.

When 60-plus-year-old Li Lanying was locked in solitary confinement, she was cuffed by one hand and hung up in the air. She soon passed out from the pain.

After Huang Yindi was tortured with “hanging in the air,” she was unable to use either her hands or feet for a long time.

Jiang Lanying was tortured this way twice. Her hands were tied behind her back and the rope hung over a window frame, her toes barely touching the floor. She was left like that for 24 hours.

Lü Sanxiu was hung up in the air for a long time for refusing to give up her faith in Falun Gong.

Prison instructor Wang Xiang and guard Tian Shuang hung Tian Haiying to a window frame for ten days in a row. Hu Ruihua, head of the reform section, and other guards later cuffed Tian's hands and feet together and hung her up in a storeroom during the day and from a bed frame at night. Tian later developed lumps in her breasts.

Tortured with Belts and Straitjackets

The cotton belts used in Jiangxi Province Women's Prison are much more dangerous than they appear.

After tying the victim's arms with such a belt, the belt can be tightened by turning a device, causing the victim extreme pain. Some practitioners were almost crippled as a result of this torture.

Yang Danhe was tied up and hung from a metal frame in the workshop.

Later, they locked her in a special cell, where they tied her feet to two beds across the cell from each other, with her body in the middle. Then they forced her to raise her hands above her head and cuffed them together. She could not move, even when blood ran down her arms.

The perpetrators then stuffed her mouth with rags and covered her head with a cotton-padded beanie. The pain was excruciating. Yang could hardly breathe and hovered between life and death.

Chen Xiaojuan had her feet tied to the sides of her bunkbed every night, with one foot barely touching the floor of the left side of the bed while the other foot was secured to the top bunk on the right side. Sometimes her arms would also be stretched and tied up in opposite directions; sometimes they also hung up her foot that was barely touching the floor, so that her whole body was suspended.

Every day, she was tied up with cotton belts and hung up on the window frame of the workshop. At lunchtime, she was dragged to the dining hall and thrown on the floor. She was tied up and hung to the window frame again in the afternoon. She couldn't use her left arm for six months.

Liu Chang'e was also persecuted this way for half a month during an intensified “transformation” period. She was hung up in the air. When the perpetrators turned the hidden device in the belts, the belts began to tighten more and more around her wrists. It was extremely painful. Soon afterwards, her arms felt as if they were broken and her hands were almost crippled. To keep her from screaming, the perpetrators stuffed her mouth and nostrils with underwear and socks, threatening to torture her to death.

“Straitjackets” are also used as a form of torture in many prisons across China. Victims tied up in these straitjackets suffered unbearable pain.

These jackets are a one-piece suit. The inner sides of the pants are also connected, so anyone wearing them can only take small steps. Wearing these suits for a long time can cause severe pain.

Wang Fengying was forced to wear a “straitjacket” for a long time for refusing to give up her belief. Her health rapidly deteriorated.

Brainwashing

In addition to physical torture, Falun Gong practitioners are also subjected to brainwashing and various forms of mental torment at Jiangxi Province Women's Prison.

Defamatory videos are played in the workshops all day, and Falun Gong practitioners are closely monitored by inmates assigned by the guards. Sometimes, the practitioners are also forced to summarize the content of the videos.

Practitioners are also subjected to humiliation and brainwashing at night.

One evening, Yang Danhe was taken to a small cell, where the wall was covered in posters slandering Falun Gong. She was stripped naked to humiliate her and her mouth was stuffed with rags. The perpetrators then poured dirty water over the top of her head. It was so cold that she shivered uncontrollably.

Xiong Quanmei was forced to read propaganda materials slandering Falun Gong out loud. The wall of the “study room” was covered with slogans defaming Falun Gong, and the name of Falun Gong's founder was written on the stools and the floor. When Xiong Quanmei was forced to walk across the floor, guard Yang Ying took photos of her with a smartphone, saying that she would send them to Xiong's family.

When Xiong told her what they were doing was an insult to human dignity, Yang Ying yelled, “You have no human dignity here!”

Inmates also rolled paper into horns and took turns yelling the prison rules into Jiang Lanying's ears.. Others grabbed her hand to force her to copy the prison rules and pre-prepared “statements” to denounce Falun Gong.

Forced Admission of Unknown Drugs

Like many other prisons, Jiangxi Province Women's Prison also persecutes Falun Gong practitioners by forcing them to take unknown drugs.

Luo Jianrong was forced to take drugs that damage the central nervous system for two months because she refused to give up her faith in Falun Gong.

Guard Wu Jingmin instructed inmate An Hui to put various drugs in practitioner Liu Chang'e's thermos bottle. Once Liu licked the water in her thermos, a nerve in the right side of her head started to ache, and she did not drink the water. The perpetrators tried to poison her this way for nine months.

Practitioner Luo Chunrong was very healthy when she was first admitted to the prison. However, the prison doctor insisted that she had high blood pressure and forced her to take various medications. She was forced to take more than 1200 tablets while in prison.

Soon after she was released, the toxic effect of the drugs began to affect her severely. She developed cancer and became bedridden. A year later, she passed away in great pain on May 24, 2019.

Wang Fengying told her husband when he went to visit her, “The prison is forcing me to take pills for high blood pressure. When I refused, they force-fed me. I'm not sick, so why do they force me to take drugs?”

Sleep Deprivation

Sleep deprivation is commonly used on Falun Gong practitioners.

Wu Zhiping was only allowed four hours of sleep a night.

Xiong Quanmei was often dragged from her bed onto the cold floor in winter. Inmates would take turns torturing her till dawn. Instructor Ding Jie also made a rule that Xiong Quanmei was not allowed to go back to her cell until after midnight.

Yang Danhe was also often forced to stand still until early morning. When she dozed off, inmates would spray her eyes with chili powder.

Daily Mistreatment

Falun Gong practitioners are often deprived of bathing privileges, such as not being allowed to brush their teeth or take showers. Some were not allowed to shower for three or four months, even in the hot summer. They would be beaten if they changed clothes. Their daily necessities, such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, face towels, toilet paper, sanitary napkins, and shampoo, were often thrown away or confiscated, and their washbasins and buckets often get smashed.

Practitioners who refused to renounce their faith were often deprived of food. Sometimes, they were only allowed to eat a small portion of rice or clear soup with no vegetables; sometimes they were allowed to have one plain dish.

The additional food that would be distributed on holidays was taken away from them by other inmates, with the guards turning a blind eye.

Practitioners were also denied the use of the restroom from time to time. Liu Baozhen had to soil herself when she was not allowed to use the toilet for long periods of time.

Deprived of Family Visits

Practitioners who refused to give up their faith in Falun Gong were also denied family visits and phone calls from their loved ones. Even those who had been “transformed” were also closely monitored during any family visit.

Perpetrators’ contact information:Jiangxi Province Women's Prison: [phone], [phone], [phone]Xu Yaowang (徐耀旺), head of Jiangxi Province Women's Prison: [phone] (Office)Liu Hui (刘慧), instructor of Jiangxi Province Women's Prison: [phone]Fang Tingting (方婷婷), prison guard: [phone]

Photos of some perpetrators at Jiangxi Province Women's Prison:Prison Head: Xu YaowangGuard: Wu Ying (Police No 3615331)Guard: Cui Bing (Police No 3615248)Guard: Wang Fen (Police No 3615407)Guard: Xiao Ye (Police No 3615201)Guard: Li Jing (Police No 3615093)Guard: Chen Li (Police No 3615211)