Chishan Prison, also known as Hunan Provincial No.1 Prison, is a prison in Hunan of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Overview

Chishan Prison is located in

Yuanjiang Yuanjiang () is a county-level city in the Province of Hunan, China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Yiyang. Located in the north of the province, the city is bordered to the north by Nan County, to the northeast b ...

in China's Hunan province. The Prison houses a number of

political prisoners A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although nu ...

and prisoners of conscience. The prison practices reform through labor (known as the

Laogai ''Laogai'' (), short for ''laodong gaizao'' (), which means reform through labor, is a criminal justice system involving the use of penal labor and prison farms in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and North Korea (DPRK). ''Láogǎi'' i ...

system) with prisoners being forced to work in for profit prison industries. The prison industries of Chishan Prison operate under the names Yuanjiang Electric Machinery Plant and Dongtinghu Farm.

History

In 1995 a letter was smuggled out of the prison written by political prisoner Yu Zhijian and addressed to the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2, ...

which alleged mistreatment and physical violence directed by guards towards prisoners. Chinese authorities questioned the authenticity of the letter but it was believed to be genuine by global NGOs. As of 2018 prisoners were allegedly forced to work for more than ten hours a day without any days off. This violated Chinese prison regulations which limit work to eight hours a day, five days a week.

Prisoners

Zhang Jingsheng

Zhang Jingsheng is a Chinese singer-songwriter who has composed a number of songs based on his time in Chishan. He is a significant artist of the Prison song genera, a genera of traditional music that predates the Communist takeover. Zhang Jingsheng is alleged by fellow inmates to have been tortured and otherwise mistreated during his time at Chishan.

Zhang Shanguang

Zhang Shanguang is a labor organizer who spent several years in Chishan Prison. He was sentenced to prison in 1989 due to his work organizing the Hunan Workers’ Autonomous Federation. He was released and subsequently imprisoned at Chishan again in 1998 due to having contact with a

Radio Free Asia Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a United States government-funded private non-profit news service that broadcasts radio programs and publishes online news, information, and commentary for its audiences in Asia. The service, which provides editoriall ...

reporter. In 2001 Zhang Shanguang was severely beaten by guards after organizing a petition to end torture and long working hours at the jail.

Yu Dongyue

Yu Dongyue is a Chinese artist arrested for a provocative piece of performance art that insulted

Chairman Mao Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC ...

. Yu was transferred to Chishan prison in 1990. In 2004 it was reported that Yu Dongyue had been tortured to the point of mental collapse by Chishan prison authorities.

Shi Tao

Shi Tao is a Chinese journalist and poet who served time in Chishan prison during his ten-year imprisonment which started in 2005.

Li Wangyang

Li Wangyang Li Wangyang (, 12 November 1950 – 6 June 2012) was a Chinese dissident labor rights activist, member of the Workers Autonomous Federation and chairman of the Shaoyang WAF branch. Following his role in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, he ...

was a Chinese labor activist who served ten years in Chishan Prison from 2001 to 2011. He was sentenced for "inciting subversion of state power."

Lee Ming-che

Lee Ming-che Lee Ming-che (; born 1975) is a Taiwanese pro-democracy activist, detained by Chinese authorities in late March 2017. After Lee entered the domain of China from Macao, he lost the ability to directly contact his family. There have been calls for h ...

is a

Taiwanese Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...

pro-democracy activist imprisoned in Chishan Prison since 2017. In 2018 Lee was transferred to a prison in

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

before being transferred back to Chishan. From 2017 to 2019 his health deteriorated and he lost 30kg.

References

{{coord missing, Hunan Prisons in China Penal labor in China Buildings and structures in Yiyang Yuanjiang