(Minghui.org) Over 20 Falun Gong practitioners are still being held in the Inner Mongolia First Women’s Prison. They are mostly from the cities of Chifeng, Hohhot, Ulanhot, Tongliao, and Hulunbuir in the autonomous region.
In its attempts to “transform” practitioners, the prison merged the strict management team designated to hold steadfast practitioners into the division for newly admitted prisoners in August 2023. Qiao Ziyue was named the head of the reorganized “new-admits” division. Her deputy was Li Sai (female). Team captain Kang Jianwei (male) remained as the chief person in charge of “transforming” practitioners. Xiao Mei, former head of the strict management team, retired after the reorganization.
All newly admitted practitioners are now required to stay at the new-admits division for at least two months before being assigned to regular divisions. There are about 12 people, with one or two of them Falun Gong practitioners, in each new-admits cell. Each practitioner is monitored around the clock by one to three inmates, who follow her everywhere. The practitioners are forced to sit on a small stool motionless for about ten hours every day. There is set schedule for when to eat, brush teeth, use the restroom, and take care of other daily needs. Everyone must also go to the lobby to recite the prison rules twice every day (once in the morning and again at noon). Before lunch and dinner, all inmates must sing pro-CCP (Chinese Communist Party) songs.
Two Intensive “Transformation” Campaigns Each Year
There are now two intensive campaigns of “transformation” of practitioners scheduled each year, the first one around May and the second around October. Both are led by Zhang from the Inner Mongolia Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC) and former prison guard Liu Gang (who now runs his own private office providing “psychological counseling” services but still works with the regime). Joining Zhang and Liu are several dozens of agents from various police departments and 610 Offices.
The goal of these campaigns is a 100% “transformation” rate, meaning that every practitioner held there will give up her belief.
According to an insider, the Inner Mongolia PLAC appropriated half a million yuan in October 2023 for Zhang and Liu and their team to be stationed in the prison for two months. They also brought in former practitioners who had renounced Falun Gong under pressure, including Shang Huiying, Guo Junxiu, Zhang Cuimin, Xu Juan, a woman surnamed Hu, and two men surnamed He and Li. They were each paid 300 yuan per day plus room and board. The prison referred to them as “paraprofessionals,” and they also traveled to other prisons to “work” on incarcerated practitioners.
The paraprofessionals’ main tactic is to confuse the steadfast practitioners and make them doubt Falun Gong and its founder. To that end, they take the writings of Falun Gong founder out of context or present articles written by others as “genuine” teachings by the Falun Gong founder.
Some practitioners indeed got confused and began to believe what the paraprofessionals said about renouncing Falun Gong and that that would be the right way to go.
In addition to the paraprofessionals, other inmates were involved in “brainwashing” steadfast practitioners. Every night the head inmates would pressure the practitioners to write statements to renounce Falun Gong if they hadn’t done that during the day after “help” from the “paraprofessionals.” When the practitioners still held firm to their faith, the head inmates would punish everyone by making them stand the whole night and not let them brush their teeth or wash. Sometimes they even punished people in other cells as well, the goal being to get everyone to hate the pracitioners.
The head inmates also instructed others to put photographs of the founder of Falun Gong on the floor or in the restroom. The “paraprofessionals” praised them for “doing a great job in helping the practitioners abandon their attachments.”
When the practitioners still remained steadfast, they were tortured. Ms. Wang Xiufang from Chifeng City was once dragged around on the floor and later forced to stand for long hours. The inmates also slapped her in the face, badly bruising her. Fraudster Zhu Junying (who has since been released after serving 14 years) even stuffed a dirty rag used to clean the toilet into Ms. Wang’s mouth. Inmates Meng Fanxiu and Zhang Jing also beat her at different times.
Team Captain Kang’s Deceptive Behavior
Team captain Kang gathered steadfast practitioners in a room from time to time for so-called “study sessions,” which consisted of him slandering Falun Gong. He verbally abused anyone who corrected him. He also barred whoever refused to write statements to renounce Falun Gong from calling or receiving visits from their families when, per prison regulations, every inmate is entitled to one family visit and one phone call with loved ones every month.
Non-practitioner inmates were each required to write two thought reports every month and allowed up to 300 yuan to spend each month on daily necessities. But Kang ordered practitioners to write four thought reports per month and also capped their monthly spending at 100 yuan (which could only be used to purchase toiletries, not food).
Any practitioner in the new-admits team had to stay there if she remained firm in her faith after the typical two-month period (instead of being assigned to a regular division). If someone got confused and wrote statements to renounce Falun Gong, Kang would immediately arrange for her to see her family or call them. He would also raise the cap on their monthly spending. That deceived a lot of people, including the “paraprofessionals.” They thought Kang was a caring person when in fact he should never have imposed restrictions on practitioners’ legal right to communicate with their families and purchase daily necessities in the first place.
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