C
HOUSE OF LORDS
'The first horror of the Huangpu detention centre was sleeping. Thirteen or 14 prisoners were crowded into a cell about three square metres in area. In the daytime there was room to sit with our legs drawn up, bodies touching. But at night we would be squeezed into two rows of straight bodies, with the rows head to head so as to fit more tightly together, like a box of frozen yellowfish. Even then there might not be room for everybody. In that case, the guards would beat the prisoners with bamboo truncheons and trample them with their boots to squeeze them in the the line of sleepers. They called this 'bamboo grill'. Sometimes even these methods could not squeeze more men into the limited space. Although human flesh is elastic it is not sponge to be pressed into any size one likes. In the winter the prisoners could hardly breathe. In the summer it was worse. Each man wore only a pair of pants, but he was soaked with sweat. When we got up in the morning the cement floor was covered with a pool of sweat half a centimetre deep and the prisoners backsides were covered with swollen bedsores which hurt and formed scabs that bound their pants to their bodies. As soon as you stood up to use the toilet the scabs would tear and your pants would be covered in blood. When it came time to go to sleep again the prisoners were afraid of the discomfort and would have preferred to stay up, of course the guards would not permit this. Life like this was harder than death.
The use of handcuffs was the most terrifying punishment in the place. Originally handcuffs were designed to prevent prisoners fromm escaping, but on floor after floor of barred cells they became the most convenient and cruellest disciplinary device for guards who liked to maltreat their prisoners. The most commonly used device was simply tight cuffs which cut into the flesh of the wrists unitl the bone showed.
To establish their authority, the jailers competed to see who could fit the cuffs most tightly. They would stand on the cuffs to squeeze them closed. Within 10 minutes the victims hands would turn white, then blue, then purple, and finally black, and the prisoner, no matter how tough would be rolling on the floor in pain. When he finally lost consciousness the jailers would release the cuffs and wake him with a splash of cold water. As feelings returned, the hands and wrists seem to be pierced by thousands of needles. When full feeling was restored, the jailer would reapply the cuffs. This time the pain would be worse.