(Minghui.org) Mr. Cao Genshen was only given a few spoonfuls of rice and a bit vegetable soup to eat at every meal while he was imprisoned for practicing Falun Gong. The Hengdong County, Hunan Province, resident, was also subjected to long-term sleep deprivation and various forms of torture. One day in September or October 2023, he had a sudden gastric hemorrhage (upper intestinal bleeding) and blood shot out of his mouth, splattering the cell.
Mr. Cao, 64, was rushed to the intensive care unit (ICU) of Liling County Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. His family was summoned to sign a consent form to treat him.
Mr. Gao barely survived and was taken back to the Wangling Prison (located in Wangling Town, You County, Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province) one month later to face even more abuse. In early 2024, he was forced to stand for long hours every day. He fainted and was taken to the prison hospital.
In late May 2025, Mr. Gao was accused of “biting” inmate Liu Junde on the neck while using the restroom one night. The prison filed a lawsuit with the Xiu County Court seeking to sentence him to 3-5 years for the new “crime.”
According to other Falun Gong practitioners who were previously jailed in this prison, Mr. Cao would never deliberately hurt anyone. They suspected that the allegation was either completely false or that he might have injured that inmate by accident when he defended himself while he was repeatedly torture. The prison authorities should have conducted a thorough investigation before filing the lawsuit.
Mr. Cao is currently held in the only solitary confinement cell in the prison. The authorities plan to keep him there until the new case against him is concluded.
Mr. Cao credits Falun Gong for restoring his health. After the persecution began in July 1999, he held firm to his faith and was repeatedly targeted. From 1999 to 2005, he was detained five times and extorted over 5,000 yuan. He developed a disability after he was repeatedly tortured in detention.
Mr. Cao was also forced to quit his job as the director of a grain warehouse in Mojing Township, Hengdong County. He was entitled to over 30,000-yuan severance fee but was not given the money. His workplace also refused to return the 3,000-yuan deposit that employees were paid to secure a certain number of years of service before voluntary termination.
Mr. Cao’s son was not allowed to apply to the top universities despite his stellar academic performance. His daughter joined a tour group to visit Macau but was denied an entry-exit permit. The authorities later granted the permit after the tour group threatened to sue.
Mr. Cao spent more than a decade living in displacement to avoid persecution. He returned home in 2021, only to be arrested not long afterward. He was sentenced to above five years (exact term unknown), and should be released in 2026.
He was admitted to the Wangling Prison in early 2023 and assigned to Division 10 (later renamed “Strict Management Division”).
Three to five inmates were assigned to monitor each Falun Gong practitioner around the clock. They verbally and physically abused the practitioners at will. Inmate Xu Hongfan once hit Mr. Cao on the back of his head, and knocked him down. Xu then accused him of being the assailant.
Mr. Cao was later moved to a different team headed by Chen Yuanming (the Lukou Town former Party secretary). Inmates Xu Bo and Liu Jinsheng slandered Falun Gong and its founder, causing Mr. Cao mental anguish. They also limited his water and food intake and he often felt dizzy due to hunger and thirst. He was also subjected to long-term sleep deprivation and restricted restroom use.
The long-term torture damaged Mr. Cao’s health. He had the aforementioned stomach bleeding episode in September or October 2023 and the fainting episode in early 2024.
In August 2024, Mr. Cao was reassigned to a team headed by Tang Shunguo, and inmates Liu Junde and Ren Xiaohui monitored him. As he remained firm in his faith, the inmates blamed him for causing them to fail their “jobs.” They intensified their torture of him, resulting in the “biting” incident mentioned above.
Inmate Liu, around 50, is serving a 10-plus-year term for stealing a locomotive. He has about 4 years left on his term. He is known to be irrational and cruel.
The Wangling prison is notorious for torturing jailed Falun Gong practitioners. Many have been tortured to death as a result, and many more have become injured or disabled. See the related reports for details.
The Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners at Wangling Prison in Hunan Province
Crimes of Lu Xianyu, Former Party Secretary and Warden of Wangling Prison, in Persecuting Falun Gong
Falun Gong Practitioners Tortured at Wangling Prison in Hunan Province