A mainland political prisoner who had been unlawfully sentenced recently accused Epoch Times of his ordeal in Zhangzhou Prison. He revealed that in the prison, inmates are forced to work long hours, subjected to corporal punishment, and treated like animals to the point of being drained of their last drop of blood.
Wang Sheng (pseudonym) is a political prisoner convicted for speaking out, who had served time in Zhangzhou Prison. For safety reasons, he requested to remain anonymous.
Wang Sheng told Epoch Times reporters that newly arrived inmates are sent to “study cells,” which are actually closely monitored cells. In these cells, inmates have only five minutes each day for personal hygiene, including washing clothes, bathing, and are allotted only two buckets of water per day. During the first two months in the prison, new inmates are not allowed to buy daily necessities or food. They work 9 and a half hours per day to make counterfeit products like cotton clothing, trousers, down jackets, which are exported abroad. Even on national holidays, there is no day off; instead, inmates work on weekends to make up for holidays. During the first two months, inmates do not receive any labor compensation, and later earn just a few yuan after a month of work.
Corporal punishment is prevalent in the prison. “If you fail to complete your production labor tasks, prison guards would organize inmates in large open areas to make them squat up and down, place their hands on their knees, and stay in that position; some (inmates) wake up early to stand facing the wall, stand facing the wall until 11:30, Sundays may require inmates to work shifts, not allowing them to rest, to clean common areas, and engage in queue training. It initiates soft violence, which is more severe than direct force,” he said.
“We basically wash with cold water, including a former section head of the Fujian Economic and Trade Commission, a bank president, all washing with cold water inside. Sometimes symbolically, a bit of hot water is provided. Just for the elderly and disabled,” he added.
Wang Sheng stated that the prison boasts of a good image portraying education as the priority and production as secondary. However, in reality, labor is emphasized with the production of counterfeit goods being the primary focus. The prison houses economic offenders, scammers, corrupt individuals, including illiterate individuals and those who have not completed primary or secondary education. The prison does not provide books for reading or allow individuals to learn. He claimed that he has never seen the prison director during his time there.
“The prison has established its own strict team within, torturing and mentally breaking down individuals. In 2023, a prisoner from a certain wing was sent to strict management and later died inside. A fellow inmate from the same unit, who is also my old fellow villager, went to check on him and told me about it. I heard some police officers were also held accountable,” he said. “The prison’s management system is designed around inmates managing inmates, with the police setting up some core framework for inmates to assist in the management.”
Wang Sheng also raised serious concerns regarding the prison’s withholding of inmates’ food rations. He described the daily meals as extremely poor with fatty meat pieces floating in soup which are inedible, likely scraps obtained from elsewhere which are even inferior to pig feed.
He believes that prisons should be responsible for educating actual criminals, improving their knowledge levels, and guiding impulsive violent offenders without proper legal understanding to prevent them from recidivism. He emphasized that prisons should allow non-criminals to continue pursuing appeal and defending their rights. However, in reality, prisons coerce inmates into writing confessions and apologies, staging public confessions that exacerbate conflicts, ultimately driving a wedge between inmates and the government.
“Regardless of whether you are guilty or innocent, everyone is thrown in to create free labor for the prison, allowing wardens to earn bonuses. In reality, the prison’s true responsibility is to treat inmates as animals, turning them into labor machines and tools for profit,” he said.
Wang Sheng expressed his belief that prisons will not voluntarily change; it requires continuous domestic resistance, with many individuals paying the ultimate price for change. Coupled with other ethical human rights lawyers and international media exposing the truth, alongside the shared oversight from the international community, change may eventually come.
When contacted, Zhangzhou prison denied allegations of overtime work, corporal punishment, and requested reporters to seek information through “proper channels” and higher authorities. When asked about the number of inmates at the prison, they claimed it was a “state secret.”
In recent years, forced labor products from Chinese Communist Party prisons have faced widespread international condemnation. On international websites, a list containing information on prison labor enterprises in various provinces in mainland China includes Zhangzhou prison in Fujian Province. Under the jurisdiction of the Fujian Provincial Prison Administration, there are 18 prisons, with a peak number reaching 20 prison enterprises.
Public records indicate that Zhangzhou Prison was officially established in March 2002, previously known as the Zhangzhou Prison Unit under the Fujian Province Prison System, and later classified as a high-security prison in June 2009. Its enterprise, Zhangzhou Xinyuan Light Industry Co., Ltd., was founded in May 1999, mainly specializing in textiles, located at 66 Nankeng North Road, Zhangzhou, Fujian Province.
Public information reveals that the current legal representative of Xinyuan Light Industry Co., Ltd. is Yu Taihong, who also serves as the secretary of the Zhangzhou Prison Party Committee and the prison director.
Wang Sheng disclosed the forced labor conditions at Zhangzhou Prison to Epoch Times.
“The living quarters are only a few minutes from the labor workshop within the same compound,” he said, noting that even during severe disease outbreaks, they were still forced to work. Individuals with hypertension, hepatitis B, and elderly individuals in their sixties and seventies were also obliged to carry out tasks. The prison only halted operations for a few months during extremely severe health crises.
He shared that at one point, all inmates were quarantined within the prison compound. “Daily nucleic acid tests were conducted, with those testing positive isolated in groups of about a dozen inmates per room. Eventually, nearly all inmates contracted COVID-19; they were also forcibly vaccinated, experiencing physical discomfort post-vaccination,” he added. With thousands of individuals confined in crowded conditions, numerous infections were reported.
He indicated that the prison is a provincial-level facility, overstuffed with inmates to the extent they couldn’t accommodate everyone, with some individuals even sleeping on the floor. Although legal provisions for parole exist, in his observation, no one had been granted parole for many years.
“The more inmates in prison, the worse and more problematic the society. If it were a normal, conscientious society, prisons wouldn’t be as overcrowded. The multitude of individuals petitioning in Beijing for years indicates that the government cannot resolve these issues. There have been cases of wrongful convictions rectified, but these are only the tip of the iceberg,” he concluded.