Masanjia re-education through labor camp
41°53′57″N 123°15′18″E / 41.89929°N 123.255062°E
Masanjia Labor Camp (simplified Chinese: 马三家劳教所; traditional Chinese: 馬三家勞教所; pinyin: Mǎsānjiā Láojiào Suǒ) is a "re-education" through labor camp located in the Yuhong district near Shenyang, in the Liaoning province of China. The facility is sometimes called the Ideology Education School of Liaoning Province.
It was first established in 1956 under China's re-education through labor, or laojiao policy, and was expanded in 1999 in order to detain and "re-educate" followers of the Falun Gong spiritual practice. According to former detainees, Falun Gong practitioners represent 50–80% of inmates in the camp. Other prisoners include petty criminals, prostitutes, drug addicts, petitioners, and members of other unapproved religious minorities, such as underground Christians.
Followers of the Falun Gong spiritual practice have long sought to publicize human rights abuses committed in the labor camp, which they describe as being among the most notorious in China. In addition to performing forced labor, prisoners are allegedly tortured using electric batons, force-feeding, prolonged solitary confinement, and other forms of abuse. These allegations received international attention in 2013 when a magazine exposé on Masanjia was published—and then quickly removed—after China issued a directive prohibiting the publication and reporting of the story.