‘Killing You Would Be the Same as Killing Ants’: Prisons Where Innocent Citizens Are Tortured [PHOTOS]

A re-enactment of torture on a Falun Gong practitioner is carried out during an event to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the beginning of the persecution of Falun Gong July 20, 2005 in Sydney Australia. Ian Waldie/Getty Images

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

In dictatorships, prisons have long been used as places for inflicting extreme torture to break the will of those incarcerated. One such country is communist China.

Prisoners who’ve survived jail time in China call these dark dens “hell on earth” where even innocent citizens—or more specifically people whose opinions don’t align with the communist regime’s—are imprisoned and subjected to severe abuse, including forced labor.

Here we detail some of the prisons and covert facilities in China where detainees—including prisoners of faith—are routinely tortured.

Reenactment: Straitjackets can inflict excruciating pain and tear the tendons of the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, damaging them permanently and leaving the victim disabled. Public domain

Legal Education Centers

Four Christians from The Church of Almighty God were forcibly held at a “legal education center” in the Chinese city of Xi’an for nearly 60 days, according to Bitter Winter, a magazine for religious liberty and human rights in China. They were forced to watch videos slandering their church and to write statements renouncing their faith.

One Christian, who was previously detained in the facility, told Bitter Winter that police officers threatened him and said, “Killing you would be the same as killing ants.” He added that the place looked like a prison.

“It was all ghastly and frightening, starting with the black gate with heavy iron chains to enter the facility,” the man said. “I felt like I was in hell.”

According to Minghui.org, a U.S.-based nonprofit that reports on the persecution of Falun Gong in China, the “legal education centers” are usually manned by police officers. They do not require any evidence, documentation, or legal procedures for admission, and Falun Gong adherents are routinely detained for their faith and subjected to brainwashing there.

Reenactment of tying a Falun Gong adherent’s legs in a double-crossed meditation position. Courtesy of Minghui.org

Falun Gong practitioners commemorate the lives lost during 20 years of persecution by the Chinese communist regime in Sydney, Australia, on July 19, 2019. The Epoch Times

‘Heinous Torture’ in a Women’s Prison

In a 2022 report, Minghui.org highlighted an “appalling” case of torture in which criminal inmates stripped a female Falun Gong adherent naked and abused her.

Jin Hong, a woman in her 50s serving a 4-year term for her faith, was incarcerated in Liaoning Province Second Women’s Prison. On June 27, 2021, nine inmates tortured her at the command of prison guards.

Minghui.org detailed the abuses: “Several inmates stripped Ms. Jin Hong naked, put a lot of bugs on her body, tied her wrists to the bed railing of the upper bunk and hung her up. They taped her feet to the step ladder of the lower bunk. Then they put a plastic bag over her head and began to hit her head with full water bottles. Ms. Jin almost suffocated and passed out. Afterward, one inmate pinched her nipples, a second one taped her pubic hair before yanking the tape, a third one kicked her in the abdomen and a fourth one poked Ms. Jin’s private parts with her foot which had [an] athlete’s foot to infect her.”

An illustration of one of the sexual torture methods employed by Chinese communist officials to coerce female Falun Gong adherents to renounce their faith. Courtesy of Minghui.org

The prison is known for torturing Falun Gong practitioners and has devised various methods to inflict harm. The prison guards often encourage inmates to carry out the abuses by offering reduced sentences.

One such inmate told a practitioner, “We have a death quota, so it’s okay to beat you to death,” reported Minghui.org.

A Falun Gong adherent’s hands became disabled after being suspended by rope for extended periods. Courtesy of Minghui.org

Reenactment of torture by being suspended with a rope tied around the thumbs. Courtesy of Minghui.org

The ‘Ghost House’

A small room in the 5th ward of the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison is specifically used for torturing Falun Gong adherents. One of the practitioners who witnessed it called this room a “ghost house.”

Describing the nightmarish experience, Zhang Guangyuan of Anshan City, Liaoning Province, told Minghui.org:

“In the coldest part of winter, they tortured practitioner Han Xuejun from Dalian City by pouring cold water into her overcoat and forcing her to stand in the courtyard. It was snowing at the time and the temperature was below zero Fahrenheit. Because she refused to ‘transform,’ they viciously thrusted the toilet plunger from the restroom into her mouth. Ms. Han was persecuted continuously for over a month, and became mentally disordered. Her eyes were dull, and she could not control her urine and bowel movements.

“She later went on a hunger strike, and was tied to the death bed to be force fed. Her lower body began to fester after about 20 days. The ward treated her as a mental patient and took her to the quarters for the mentally ill in the prison hospital. I once passed by her and saw that she was curled up in bed, hands tied behind her back, feet tied together, and mouth taped. I learned from other inmates that this was because she kept yelling ‘Falun Dafa is good.’”

A drawing illustrating guards and inmates force-feeding a practitioner. Courtesy of Minghui.org

A reenactment of the "Tiger Bench" torture method that is routinely used to persecute prisoners of faith in Chinese detention centers and labor camps. Courtesy of Minghui.org

Emergency Training Correctional Ward

The 12th ward of Liaoning Province Women’s Prison isn’t what it looks like on the outside, according to a Dec. 2 report by Minghui.org.

Though it’s known as the “Emergency Training Correctional Ward,” in reality, it’s “a prison inside a prison” designed to break the will of Falun Gong practitioners who otherwise “cannot be transformed.”

“The only assignment the guards and inmates in this ward have is to torture Falun Gong practitioners. The prison authorities arrange two inmates to monitor each practitioner around the clock. The guards train the inmates in torture methods designed to transform practitioners, and inmates are rewarded with reduced sentences if they succeed in getting practitioners to renounce their faith,” the report stated.

One of the prisoners of faith detained here is Zhang Wei from Donggang City. Her term will end in April 2024.

She went on a hunger strike to protest her detention and persecution. The prison guards dragged her to the prison hospital where they force-fed her and “injected her with unknown nerve-damaging drugs.” In addition, she was physically assaulted and was emaciated and near death when she was returned to her cell.

Reenactment of toothpicks pierced under nails. Courtesy of Minghui.org

Jiangxi Province Women’s Prison

The Jiangxi Province Women’s Prison is another such facility used for persecuting prisoners of faith. According to Minghui.org, Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned there are routinely subjected to brutal torture, including being injected with nerve-altering drugs, tied up with belts and straitjackets, and being forced to perform manual labor.

Jiangxi Province Women’s Prison. Courtesy of Minghui.org

When Ms. Luo Chunrong was admitted to the prison, the doctor “insisted” she had high blood pressure, the report said. She was forced to take various medicines—over 1,000 pills— during her sentence, though she had previously been very healthy. Later on, the side effects of the drugs caused her to develop cancer and become bedridden.

She passed away a year later in May 2019.

Foreign Prisoners in Lanzhou Prison

The Lanzhou Prison in Gansu Province is used to incarcerate male Falun Gong adherents as well as some hundred foreign prisoners from Pakistan and Afghanistan who were transferred from the Xinjiang region, which is infamous for persecuting Uyghur Muslims, according to Minghui.org. These prisoners were moved there to cover up the abuse of Uyghurs.

One of the many who died due to extreme torture in Lanzhou prison is retired Lt. Cmdr. Wang Youjiang of the Lanzhou City Military Command Communications Department. He was incarcerated for practicing Falun Gong and for exposing the Chinese communist regime’s persecution of the faith.

He served two sentences in the Lanzhou prison of 10 years and 6 years respectively. Mr. Wang faced inhumane treatment despite being a former defense official.

Refusing to succumb to pressure to renounce his faith, he was beaten, shocked with electric batons, forced to do hard labor, and denied sleep and use of the restroom, reported Minghui.org. At times, the only meal he had in a day was a steamed bun and a cup of water. During his second term, he suffered a hemorrhage and passed away in 2017.