There was no dignity, no freedom and we lived like slaves.
February 25, 2013 | By a Falun Gong practitioner in mainland China
(Minghui.org) The Hebei Province Women’s Forced Labor Camp was built in 2007, and began operations in 2008 prior to the Beijing Olympic Games. The camp is located in the suburbs of Shijiazhuang City in Hebei Province. The Hebei Province Women’s Prison is located across the street from the forced labor camp, and was built at the same time. Calculations indicate that in 2008, over five hundred Falun Gong practitioners were illegally detained there.
The main source of police officers’ bonuses at the forced labor camp comes from detainees’ slave labor. We were forced to work six to six and a half days per week. During our half day off, we were busy washing our clothes and hair, buying necessary items, meeting family members, etc. Sometimes, we were pulled out to the practice lineup with hardly any time to rest. Many people are currently detained at the Hebei Women’s Forced Labor Camp, but the largest group is made up of Falun Gong practitioners-about 30 to 50 percent. Other inmates include those who made appeals, and people who were engaged in pyramid schemes. No matter what “crimes” they received sentences for, everyone was required to perform forced labor. Those refusing this work faced significant pressure, and inmates didn’t dare refuse those tasks. Only some practitioners dared to refuse doing slave labor, which resulted in their being subjected to more severe persecution. At first, their prison terms were extended. Adding even one day added to their difficulties, let alone adding several months of enduring insults from the captains and squad leader, being beaten and subjected to electric shock treatment. In the summertime, they were not allowed to take showers, buy necessities, etc.
At that time, the forced labor camp was composed of three teams: No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4. The former No. 1 team was mainly focused on detaining and persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. All Falun Gong practitioners refused to cooperate with them, refused to work, or wouldn’t obey their orders, let alone be {{transformed}. Therefore, that team was disbanded.
The jobs conducted by the No. 2 and No. 3 Teams were comparably light, mainly folding towels. The No. 3 Team worked on processing and producing towels for a brand called “Big Qin”. The No. 4 Team did the most tedious work – stuffing rubber rings into bottle lids. That job was done for the Jinhuan Packaging Co. Ltd. of Hebei Province, located in Yuhua District, Shijiazhuang. That company mainly produces various supplies for several pharmaceutical companies, and also exports their products. This type of bottle cap is made of aluminum. In order to seal the bottle, they have to put a rubber ring inside the bottle cap. Each inmate had a quota, averaging about 10,000 pieces a day. If an inmate couldn’t finish her quota before the end of the business day, she had to work overtime. There was no lunch break, or they had to work for another one and a half hours after dinner.
Although the “Forced Labor Camp Regulations” state that there are six hours to the working day, in fact, we had to work eight and a half hours daily–not including overtime. We had to request use of the restroom, and were allowed to go only after receiving approval. In order to perform our work, we used a mold to put the rubber ring in the lid. Many people’s hands became deformed in the process. Some inmates in the forced labor camp were drug addicts or prostitutes; many had illnesses, even infectious diseases such as hepatitis B. Those diagnosed with hepatitis B should have received immediate medical treatment, but the officials didn’t provide or allow medical treatment. Additionally, the camp officials didn’t inform those inmates that they were suffering from hepatitis B, yet still made them take on the same work load. A clean environment is required to manufacture medicine; however, there were times when we weren’t allowed to wash our hands.
Whenever the “stuffing rubber rings” work didn’t take all our time, we’d work on packaging spoons. This small type of plastic spoon is called “Yili Straight Handle Spoon”, and is used to scoop milk powder. This product was made for Zhengtong Food Packaging Co. Ltd. of Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province. We placed several boxes of spoons onto a big table, then put one spoon in a small plastic bag. Each person had to pack seven to eight thousand a day. The company’s production requirements were originally very strict, and required us to go through disinfection procedures several times, and also described exactly how to pack the spoon. However, in order to reach the production goal, the forced labor camp simply didn’t follow those requirements. Therefore, we didn’t meet their production standards. The female guards even said, “People will never be willing to buy products from ‘Yili’ again”.
Another job was tying beads together, or working on various accessory decorations for Runshi Jewelry Com., Ltd. in Shijianzhuang, Hebei province. Many of them were semi-finished products for export or DYI production. Runshi has many projects being done in the Hebei Women’s Prison (located near the forced labor camp). Their products are mainly for export.
Those people being persecuted at the forced labor camp receive only 10 yuan ($1.60 USD) per month in pocket money. They are given monthly salaries ranging from 10 to 60 yuan, but aren’t guaranteed to be paid on time.
Besides finishing the jobs at the workshop, we had to work in the fields. A large area is set aside in the forced labor camp for growing vegetables. We grow sweet potatoes, leeks, eggplants, radishes, cabbages, beans, green onions, and so on. Police officers paid a low price for those green onions and sweet potatoes. They left the bad vegetables for inmates to eat. The tasks included weeding, picking vegetables, plowing and cleaning.
While working, we were not allowed to talk to each other. We had to use the restroom according to an arranged schedule and also we had to get in line waiting for our turns. Normally, the restroom and the water room were locked and we weren’t allowed to use them freely. Many surveillance cameras are installed in the workshop, dormitory and even in the restroom.
Moreover, we had to go through security checks once a week. At first, we were very tired after working for a whole day and wanted to rest after going back to the dorm. However, everything was turned upside down into a mess. We had to clean up and get things in order again. There was no dignity, no freedom and we lived like slaves.
Sometimes, no one was at work because they’d released so many people. They would then actively pick up people from various detention centers and addiction treatment centers. Reports indicated that each time the forced labor camp received a person from a local police station, they had to pay the police station some money as a trade-in to “buy” a slave. Sometimes, local police stations had to give money to the forced labor camp so they could send those who failed physical exams or Falun Gong practitioners to the forced labor camp.
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