Qincheng Prison - Hospital

Hospital

When prisoners are seriously ill and thus cannot be treated at the prison clinic, they are transferred to Fuxing (复兴, Revival) Hospital on the Fuxingmen Outer Street. Fuxing Hospital is one of the hospitals for Ministry of Public Security employees and their relatives. All Ministry of Public Security hospitals shoulder the additional responsibility of treating prisoners, but Fuxing Hospital is specially designated to treat prisoners from Qincheng Prison. The prison section is located on the 2nd Floor of one of the hospital buildings and it is completely segregated from the rest of the facility. Every room is about 10 square meters, with one or two hospital beds, a wash sink, and a toilet. The window is equipped with sanded glass so that nothing outside can be seen and there is another layer of iron fence outside the window glass. Guards watch the prisoners behind the door that is locked from outside. Prisoners treated at the hospital exercise by walking on the roof of the building.

Like the doctors in the prison clinic, doctors at Fuxing Hospital also lack the final decision making authority on how to treat the important prisoners. For example, during the Cultural Revolution, former Minister of Public Security and the head of Mao Zedong's personal bodyguards, Senior General Luo Ruiqing (罗瑞卿) was jailed at Qincheng Prison. When he suffered a broken bone in his right foot, both of his leg were amputated and cremated as a punishment of his stubborn refusal to admit to the so-called "reactionary crimes" that he was accused of committing.