Stopping Prison Authorities from Putting Practitioners in Solitary Confinement and Counteracting Other Interference

(Minghui.org) In the winter of 2015, after spending 1.5 years in detention, Jun, a member of my family who also practices Falun Dafa, was transferred to a prison.

He was placed in the Transformation Unit right away. The guards tortured and tried to brainwash him. When the guards left or during holidays, Jun was put in solitary confinement, and two armed officers stood outside his cell around the clock.

There was no bed in that cell. He was given two filthy and damp comforters, one to sleep on and another one to cover him. The guards kept the window open, and during the winter, snow often came in. He was forced to stand still for long hours every day, and the only food he was given was three steamed buns with heavily salted pickles but no water for the entire day. As his health had already declined due to the abuses he experienced in the detention center, the added tortures in solitary confinement further weakened his condition.

Ending Solitary Confinement

While Jun was still in solitary confinement, the guards put an inmate who was soon to be released in the same cell with him. The inmate told him that he got along with another practitioner well, and it was the practitioner who would pick him up when he got out. Jun trusted the inmate and gave him my phone number. He asked the inmate to tell me that he was being tortured while in solitary confinement and was not allowed to have visitors.

The inmate kept his word and called me after he was released. After the call, I searched online and consulted a lawyer, and learned that the provincial prison administrative bureau supervises the prisons. Master gave me wisdom when I struggled to think of what to say in a letter to the bureau that would help Jun’s situation. Since his arrest over a year ago, I have saved many Minghui articles that described lawyers’ defense statements for the practitioners to use in court. Now they would be put to good use, as I incorporated them in the letter.

In the letter, I stated that I knew Jun had been put in solitary confinement and he was being tortured. No one should have the authority to strip him of his right to freedom of belief, to set up a prison inside of a prison, and to physically harm a person who has violated no laws. I warned that Jun’s health was deteriorating and urged the bureau to order the prison to take him out of solitary confinement and hold the perpetrators accountable.

I went to the bureau the next morning and met with the chief. After reading the letter, the chief asked if I practiced Falun Dafa and whether I wrote the letter myself. I said I was a Falun Dafa practitioner, and although I felt a little intimidated, I said I had written the letter. I told him that Jun was very weak now and that his family was worried sick about him.

The chief went back to his office. When he came out, he handed me a “Notice of Appeal and Visit,” which demanded the prison authorities to resolve my issues and follow the “Appeal Regulation” when handling my relative’s case. He told me to deal directly with the warden.

I went home and wrote my letter to three people: the warden, the president of the local procuratorate, and the prosecutor stationed in the prison. I attached the “Notice of Appeal and Visit” from the prison administrative bureau chief to each letter and sent it via express delivery.

Soon after, Huang, the person in charge of the Transformation Unit at the prison, called me and said that I should just talk to him and not escalate the issue to the top. He insisted that he did not persecute Jun and that I should visit him to see for myself. Huang was obligated to address my issue, as he was required to write a report to the Bureau.

During the visit, Huang placed his arm on Jun’s shoulder and said that they got along well. Not wanting him to give Jun a hard time later, I did not challenge him about the torture that I knew Jun was suffering at his hands. The guard who monitored our conversation frequently cut off the phone connection in order to prevent Jun from talking about the torture.

Because of my efforts, the prison authorities stopped putting practitioners in the Transformation Unit and solitary confinement when they arrived. Later on, the Transformation Unit was no longer used.

After Jun was released, he told me that the prison authorities were upset when they received my letter and the “Notice.” They tried to figure out who exposed the situation of people in solitary confinement, and threatened to have the local 610 Office ransack my home and put me in a brainwashing center. They also told Jun not to talk about the torture he suffered in the prison when I visited him. The prison authorities took Jun out of solitary confinement and put him in an ordinary ward with other inmates.

Eliminating Interference

During the visit, Jun told me that the city 610 Office might pick him up when he was released and put him directly in a brainwashing center. Knowing that our conversation was monitored, I said that I was getting ready to report the 610 Office, but was a little short of evidence. “I have the evidence that the 610 Office arrested two practitioners from my workplace and extorted 150,000 yuan from the company. When you go to the brainwashing center this time, find out what happens there, what they claim is the legal basis of holding brainwashing sessions, where the funding comes from and how it is spent, who is involved, and what measures they use to torture practitioners. Get the name of whoever talks to you. After you get this information, I will report it.”

When I went to the prison on the day of Jun’s scheduled release, I saw three officers from the local street office had shown up. Huang was there to receive them.

I said to Huang, “Why did you put Jun in solitary confinement and turn the prison into an illegal agency? You did not release him from solitary until I got help from the provincial prison administrative bureau.” I made sure that everyone there had heard me. Huang said nothing and just turned and left.

When Jun walked through the prison gate, I warned the guards accompanying him, “Huang set up a dark place inside the prison to torture Falun Dafa practitioners so he could get promoted and earn monetary rewards. He will not get away with it and neither will the officials in charge of the prison.” I said this to deter the guards from torturing the practitioners who were still incarcerated.

I had another way to clarify the truth to the guards. I knew that they read the inmates’ mail, and withheld mail when they felt it was necessary. Half of my letters to Jun were withheld. Hence, when my visits were denied, I wrote letters to Jun that talked about Falun Dafa so the guards would learn the facts when they read them.

From time to time, Jun also managed to have other inmates deliver messages from him, including lists of people who had agreed to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Clarifying the Truth to the Police Chief

After Jun was imprisoned, I found every excuse possible to see the chief of the Domestic Security Office at a local police station. After we became acquainted, I would talk about Falun Dafa and the persecution in depth to him. He said that he did not believe that the CCP would ever vindicate Falun Dafa. I reminded him that the CCP had a history of reversing its own policies, and the active participants often became victims in the end. He laughed and said that I should continue to educate him.

He explained that he did not participate in Jun’s persecution, and that it was the city 610 Office’s idea. I did not want to accuse him and just told him to stop what he was doing. He told me that he had not handed a practitioner to a prosecutor to be charged after Jun’s case. He hesitated because he knew that the persecution had no legal basis. Since then, I seldom saw Minghui.org articles about officers from his police station arresting Falun Dafa practitioners.

The city’s police department ordered the officers to photograph the local practitioners every three months. I refused to have my photo taken. The captain of the district Domestic Security Office came to our local police station, and the chief called me and asked me to come to the station to see him. Before I went to the police station, I sent righteous thoughts to eliminate any interfering factors.

The captain and the chief talked to me in a room guarded by police officers. The captain accused me of having something to hide because I refused to be photographed. I asked him for the legal basis for regularly taking photos of practitioners, but he didn’t answer. I explained that he received and executed orders without knowing right from wrong. I said that the central 610 Office had been dismantled and that those who’ve been persecuting the practitioners, sooner or later, would be brought to justice, including the high ranking officials. The captain hinted for me to tell him more. He did not bring up the issue of taking photos again, and since then, no one has tried to take my photo.

Last year, before the CCP’s annual political meetings in March, three people who claimed to be with the residential committee loudly banged on my door. I didn’t want to open the door and told them that I would report them to their supervisor for disturbing residents. They did not leave and said that they were from a surveying agency.

I called the captain of the district Domestic Security Office. I got his phone number from Minghui.org and saved it on my phone. I told him that the local officials have people banging on my door without saying why, and that he needed to stop those people from harassing us. He spoke politely and asked me the name of the local police officer in charge. Later the officer called me, saying that the captain wanted him to find out who had been banging on my door. The officer said that they were from the residential committee, and claimed that they just wanted to deliver a gift to me. Since then, no one from that office has knocked on my door.