Hebei Province Women’s Prison

Hebei Province Women’s Prison is located Tongye Town, Luquan City. Started in 2005, all female prisoners, including Falun Gong practitioners who were illegally sentenced, were transferred there. At least 460 Falun Gong practitioners have been detained in the prison. Many of them were killed because of the torture, but those who survived were left mentally disabled. The torture methods used in the prison include: being shackled to a board in the spread-eagle position, beatings, force-feeding, hanging, being shocked by electric tasers, needle punctures, confinement in a small cell, forced standing, exposure to the cold during winter and in summer, and forced injections of unknown drugs.

Featured Prisoners of Conscience

Ms. Li Xiumin, 51, was a college teacher at the Hebei Science and Technology College and was an honored employee for four consecutive years. Li was detained in Hebei Province Women’s Prison while she had a benign tumor in her uterus. She also developed symptoms of hemorrhoids in this prison, and her eyesight was so bad that she could not see a person standing right in front of her.

Her mother (Ms. Li Xiangzhi) passed away on June 11, 2009. Her family members went to Hebei Women’s Prison to ask if they would allow Ms. Li to see her mom one last time. The prison authorities refused her family’s request.

Ms. Liu Shuqin and Ms. Wang Bo are mother and daughter. Ms. Liu is an employee at the Changan sub-branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank in Shijiazhuang, and Ms. Wang was admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music for her outstanding accomplishments on the piano. Ms. Wang’s father, Mr. Wang Xinzhong, works at the Shijiazhuang Rail Road sub-depot.

The whole family has been repeatedly arrested, fined, detained, their home ransacked, and sent to forced labor camps and brainwashing centers because of their belief. On July 27, 2006, they were arrested again by the police from Shijiazhuang.

Ms. Liu and Ms. Wang were sentenced to four and five years respectively. On June 15, 2007, Ms. Liu and Ms. Wang were sent to Hebei Women’s Prison, and Mr. Wang was sent to Jidong Prison.

Ms. Liu Runling, 46, is a former employee at the Yuji Daily Chemical Co., Ltd. She began to practice cultivation in 1996. Her husband, Mr. Yang, used to work at China Youth Daily, and started to practice Falun Gong in 1995. He died in Hebei No. 4 Prison on January 26, 2006.