(Minghui.org) The 11th Ward in Shandong Women’s Prison is specially used to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. It is the only ward surrounded by barbed wire fencing and a power grid. A handful of inmates are instigated by the guards to persecute practitioners.

The practitioners are locked in this ward until their release. Even after their release, they might still be monitored and harassed by the local authorities and 610 Office.

There are three levels in the ward, similar to a college hostel, but the interior structure is more complicated. The lobby is on the first level and on the left side is the guard duty room. Every night, everyone detained in the ward had to bring their own small stool and sit in the lobby to watch the communist regime’s propaganda news.

There are small individual dark rooms on the west side of the first level. Many practitioners who first arrived at the prison would shout loudly, “Falun Dafa is good,” in the lobby. The guards then instructed the inmates—assigned to receive the new people—to stuff rags into the practitioners’ mouths and bring them into the small rooms. There is only a glass panel near the ceiling in the room. Inside the room, two inmates would try to brainwash the practitioners and force them to write guarantee statements to renounce their faith. 

Practitioners were constantly forced to watch videos slandering Falun Gong and write “thought reports.” This process lasted from ten days to a month. Only when the inmates felt that the practitioners have been transformed would the practitioners be allowed to enter the normal cells.

A young woman, who did not practice Falun Gong, was arrested and sentenced for giving her Falun Gong friend a ride to distribute materials. She told the inmates that she has never read Falun Gong books and was thus unable to write anything in the thoughts reports. The inmate said that she had to invent something or she would not be allowed to sleep. 

The young woman responded that she helped her friend as she felt Falun Gong practitioners are very kind. The inmate replied, “Just write according to what the videos said. Write that you now know Falun Gong is ‘evil.’” However, the young woman asked, “Why are the practitioners trying to be good people? Why are the practitioners who I know different from what was portrayed in the videos?” The inmate became anxious and told her to just write whatever was said in the videos.

If the practitioners refused to write the guarantee statements, they would not be allowed to drink water or use the restroom, and would be forced to stand for long hours every day. Two practitioners in their 60s suffered from swollen legs as a result of the standing torture.

If the practitioners were illiterate or did not know how to write, the inmates would grab hold of their hand and write a guarantee statement for them. For practitioners who refused to comply, the inmates would try to twist their hands, pull their hair, or pinch them.

The small rooms are installed with CCTVs but the inmates tried to avoid being seen by the cameras when torturing practitioners. Sometimes, they tortured practitioners under the blind spot of the camera or several inmates would surround the practitioners to block the camera.

If practitioners still refused to be transformed, they would be forced to watch an extensive amount of videos that slander Falun Gong and were not allowed to close their eyes. At the end of the day, the practitioners felt drowsy. When the practitioners still refused to be transformed after a month, they would be taken to solitary confinement. The guards would give them very little food to starve them. Some inmates put unknown drugs into the practitioners’ meals. Practitioners were also not allowed to step out of the room, buy daily necessities, or have visits. 

The doors to the two cells on the second level are always closed. It was later known that practitioners who remained steadfast in their belief were detained there and the cells were guarded by tall built inmates. No one had seen the practitioners stepping out of the cells. 

In addition to the practitioners held in the two secret cells, those who went on long term hunger strike were locked in the prison hospital and their exact situation was also kept in the dark from outside world.

Practitioners who had been “transformed” were transferred to the regular cells and managed by inmates who used to practice Falun Gong, but became deviated. Many of them were very capable and ruthless.

In the regular cells, the practitioners’ daily activities were still restricted and not allowed to talk to others. They would continue to be subjected to brainwashing every afternoon and had to watch videos slandering Falun Gong and write thoughts reports. At night, they had to read out their reports. When the guards felt that the practitioners’ minds had become “stabilized,” the frequency of them writing thought reports would be reduced to twice a week or once a month.

The 11th Ward is the only ward that does not have any labor work, leading inmates in other wards to become envious of those who were detained there. However, they had no idea about the tortures that were happening to the practitioners in the ward.

An elderly practitioner who used to be disabled no longer needed a wheelchair after practicing Falun Gong for a year. She used to be illiterate but through practicing Falun Gong, she was able to read Falun Gong books. However, she had no idea how to hold a pen nor write her name but the guards still ordered her to write thought reports. Initially, someone would write the report for her and she then copied word for word. She eventually had a mental breakdown.

Practitioners were also forced to reveal information about other practitioners they knew. The guards would assume the practitioners weren’t completely transformed if they refused to provide such information. Some practitioners tried to make up fake names and addresses; some who did not know anyone were forced to report their family members who used to practice Falun Gong, even if their relatives had already passed away. There were also some who wanted to get sentence reduction and reported practitioners whose identities were not previously known to the authorities, resulting in their arrests and sentencing.