(Minghui.org) The guards in the 8th ward of the Jilin Province Women’s Prison relentlessly torture Falun Dafa practitioners who were incarcerated because they refused to renounce their faith, a mind-and-body practice that has been persecuted in China since July 1999.
The following summarizes the torture used on the practitioners in the 8th ward between 2021 and 2023, including the cases of two practitioners.
Starting in 2021, the guards in the 8th ward forced practitioners who refused to "transform}}" to sit still with their backs straight on a small stool from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. The practitioners were not allowed to move at will even when they ate. Sitting still in such a position for long hours without moving caused unbearable pain to the practitioners’ backs and legs. The ribbed surface of the stool also caused the skin on their buttocks to rupture and fester after a while.
In addition to the sitting torture, the practitioners were prevented from washing up or doing laundry and were told to "hold it" when they needed to use the toilet. The guards arranged for inmates to watch the practitioners around the clock.
Torture reenactment: Sitting still on a small stool
In the winter, the guards instigated inmates and former practitioners who renounced Falun Gong under pressure to pour water on the steadfast practitioners and forced them to sit next to open windows to freeze them.
For a practitioner who refused to cooperate with the guards, she would be locked in solitary confinement, where she was given a small bun and a small amount of pickled vegetables for each meal. She was given a bottle of water each day. If she needed more water, she’d have to get it from the toilet, including the water to wash themselves.
While in solitary confinement, she had to sit still every day. If she still refused to cooperate, the guards would spray hot chili water in her eyes, handcuff her, and hang her up by the handcuffs, or make her stay in an unnatural position for a long time.
After the New Year in 2023, the prison authorities would not refrigerate or throw away the leftovers. Instead they forced the practitioners to eat all of it in one shot, while the guards watched them do so.
Starting in May 2023, the guards made the practitioners work from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day to manufacture eyelashes for dolls. The practitioners had a few minutes of lunch break and could only use the bathroom three times a day. If a practitioner could not finish the goal set by head guard Jiang Wei that day, she’d have to sit still in her cell until 9 p.m. and so would her cellmates. The collateral punishment was meant to make the cellmates resent the practitioner. Jiang slowly increased the workload over time, and would not let the practitioners shower on the weekends. The practitioners rarely got a Sunday off or a shower. Once they were denied being able to take a shower for a month in the hot summer.
Illustration: Practitioners forced to do intensive work in the prison sweatshop
Torture Cases
Ms. Jin Min from Jilin City, Jilin Province refused to renounce her faith, and the guards tortured her until she suffered a stroke. She could no longer walk properly. In April 2023, Jiang made her open her mouth after she took medicine, stuck a flashlight into her mouth, and cursed at her.
Ms. Zhou Yafen, 59 years old, from Changchun City, Jilin Province, was arrested in late August 2022. She was held in the Changchun City No. 2 Detention Center before being transferred to Jilin Province Women’s Prison on April 29, 2023, to serve a three-year term. The guards forced her to sit still on a small stool, deprived her of sleep, denied her bathroom use, and beat her. Four days after she was admitted to prison, she was tortured until she passed out. She didn’t regain consciousness for two days.
The prison notified Ms. Zhou’s family member to visit her in May of 2023. Before her arrest, she was healthy and weighed 150 lbs. When her family saw her, she appeared mentally incoherent and could not recognize them. She was emaciated and incontinent. She got confused and could not conduct a proper conversation, and told the family to leave.
A guard called Ms. Zhou’s family in June and told them that her situation had worsened. She was diagnosed with a delusional disorder and often relieved herself in her bed. The guard asked the family to send money to treat her, and the family refused to do so.
The prison told the family that they could visit her once a month on a Monday. When the family went on June 12, they were asked to come back a week later. When they went again on June 19, two people had to carry her out. Ms. Zhou said, “They beat me” and pointed at her shoulder and head. The family asked her to lift her shirt up and saw that she was skin and bones.
After the visit, the family asked a guard at the reception why Ms. Zhou had become so thin and mentally incoherent and claimed that she was beaten. They also demanded to see her physical examination report when she was admitted to prison. The guard promised to bring the issues to the authorities’ attention but refused to provide the report. Later that day the guard called the family and said that their claim about Ms. Zhou’s situation was not true.
Related reports:
Woman Tortured to Unconsciousness on Fourth Day of Prison Admission
Falun Gong Practitioners Subjected to Brutal Torture in Jilin Province Women’s Prison
Related report in Chinese:
曝光吉林省女子监狱八监区对法轮功学员的迫害
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