And it helped Weifang' s image, because the detainees wouldn't be booked in Beijing prisons and show up on the central government's tally of laggard provinces. Few detainees say they were beaten in the Beijing representative office. It was at these unofficial prisons that the killings occured. Instead of just threatening to ruin local officials' careers, Mr. Wu's colleagues in the provincial government started to fine them as well. The mayors and county heads in turn fined the heads of their Political and Legal Commissions, holding them responsible.
Officials say the policy was announced orally at government meetings.
Thus a chief feature in torture victims' testimony is that they were constantly being asked for money to compensate for the fines. When the family balked, Ms. Chen was held another night and beaten to death. Relatives and fellow prisoners of other victims tell similar stories. For example, the most recent prisoner to die in Weifang, Xuan Chengxi, was killed in October after officials asked him repeatedly for money, according to two people who tended to his wounds before he died. All the members of his family, however, were Falun Dafa practitioners and had lost their jobs, leaving them unable to pay.