Jilin Falun Gong Practitioner Dies in Custody Less Than Three Months Into Prison Sentence

Ms. Wang Xiulian, a 67-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Jiaohe City, Jilin Province, died on May 10, 2026, less than three months after being admitted to Jilin Province Women’s Prison to serve a three-and-a-half-year sentence for her faith. Her case was reported by Minghui on May 31 and by Weiquanwang on June 2.

Prison authorities attributed Ms. Wang’s death to heart disease and showed her daughter footage purporting to depict resuscitation efforts at a hospital. The family has disputed this account, citing Ms. Wang’s apparent good health and clear mental state during their last visit in April 2026, only weeks before her death.

Death in custody

Ms. Wang was admitted to the Eighth Division of Jilin Province Women’s Prison on February 13, 2026. According to reports, guards instructed a head inmate, a convicted criminal, to monitor Ms. Wang and pressure her to denounce Falun Gong. The inmate reportedly reprimanded her almost daily on the grounds that her “denunciation” was inadequate.

Ms. Wang subsequently developed a sustained rapid heartbeat of 110 to 120 beats per minute—well above the normal range of 60 to 100—and her body reportedly shook continuously. The inmate allegedly accused her of feigning illness and refused to arrange medical attention. Prison authorities did not transfer Ms. Wang to a hospital until May 10, 2026, the day of her death.

The prison hurriedly processed paperwork for “medical parole” on the same day. It remains unclear whether Ms. Wang died inside the prison, en route to the hospital, or after arrival, and whether the paperwork was completed before or after her death. Her family suspects she may have died before reaching the hospital.

Years in hiding before arrest

Ms. Wang was a retired worker in Jiaohe City. On the morning of October 27, 2023, police from the Hebei Street Police Station raided the home of Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Liu Huiqing and arrested both women. A separate police unit simultaneously arrested practitioners Mr. Yuan Enzhu and his wife, Ms. Zhang Shuqin, at their residence. Officers reportedly did not present identification or warrants and searched Ms. Wang’s and Ms. Liu’s homes.

Ms. Wang was taken first to the Tiangang Police Station and later returned to the Hebei Street Police Station, where she was repeatedly interrogated about her connections to Ms. Liu and Mr. Yuan. One officer allegedly struck her on the head with rolled-up paper in an attempt to force her to admit to distributing more than fifty informational booklets about Falun Gong. She and Ms. Liu were released on bail the following evening after failing a required health examination. Mr. Yuan and Ms. Zhang were transferred to a detention center and later sentenced in 2024 to three years and two months each.

In November 2024, an officer from the Jiaohe City Public Security Bureau contacted Ms. Wang and instructed her to report to the bureau to “complete procedures.” She was instead taken to the Shulan City Procuratorate, where she recognized the meeting as a step toward formal prosecution. She left Jiaohe shortly afterward and went into hiding to avoid further persecution.

On approximately July 10, 2025, after more than half a year in hiding, Ms. Wang was arrested by local police in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region—over 2,000 miles from her hometown—and returned to Jilin Province, where she was held at the Jilin City Detention Center. In late November 2025, her family was informed that the Shulan City Court had sentenced her to three and a half years in prison. The specifics of the trial were not disclosed.

Earlier persecution

Ms. Wang’s death followed more than a decade of persecution for her faith. On the evening of December 23, 2011, she was arrested along with three other female practitioners—Ms. Ding Yubin, Ms. Li Shumei, and Ms. Li Xuehua—while distributing informational materials about Falun Gong in Houliu Village, Baishishan Town, Jiaohe City. The four women were subjected to interrogation at the Jiaohe City Public Security Bureau’s domestic security unit and transferred to the Xiaobaishan Detention Center in Jilin City on December 25.

Over the following nine months, the four were reportedly subjected to forced labor, and their families were denied any visits or communication. Relatives received only calls from police demanding money, which officers collected on the family’s behalf, while access to the detainees themselves was withheld throughout.

The Jiaohe City Court reportedly sentenced the four women in a secret proceeding, with Ms. Li Xuehua receiving five years, Ms. Li Shumei four and a half years, and Ms. Wang and Ms. Ding three and a half years each. Family members were not informed of the trial date, the location of the proceedings, or the contents of the judgments. The four were transferred to Jilin Province Women’s Prison in mid-September 2012.

Less than six months after Ms. Wang’s release in June 2015, she was again arrested—at approximately 5:00 a.m. on June 16, 2015—by officers from the Hebei Street Police Station and held for five days at the Shahezi brainwashing center. In 2020, her pension was suspended without legal basis or explanation and was not reinstated until 2023.

Ms. Wang’s death is the latest reported case highlighting the lethal consequences of the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in custody. As of June 2026, Minghui has verified 5,355 deaths of Falun Gong practitioners attributable to the ongoing persecution in China. The pattern of practitioners dying in custody after deterioration that prison authorities failed to address with timely medical care, often followed by hurried paperwork and disputed cause-of-death accounts, has been widely cited as evidence of mistreatment within China’s detention facilities.