DANGEROUS MINDS Political Psychiatry in China Today and its Origins in the Mao Era Human Rights Watch and Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry Copyright © August 2002 by Human Rights Watch. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 1-56432-278-5 Library of Congress Control Number: 2002109978 Cover photo: Inside the Tianjin Ankang institute for mentally disordered offenders. There is no credit/copyright for anonymity reasons. 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Box 2182 1200 BG Hilversum, The Netherlands Tel.: (31) 35 6838727, Fax (31) 35 6833646, E-mail [email protected] Zenevos Iniciatyva Psichiatrijoje Oginskio 3, 2040 Vilnius, Lithuania Tel: 00370-2-715760, Fax: 00370-2-715761, E-mail: [email protected] Zhenevska Iniciativa v Psihiatriata 1, Maliovitsa Str., Sofia 1000, Bulgaria Tel/fax:+359 2 987 78 75, E-mail:[email protected] HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. We stand with victims and activists to prevent discrimination, to uphold political freedom, to protect people from inhumane conduct in wartime, and to bring offenders to justice. We investigate and expose human rights violations and hold abusers accountable. We challenge governments and those who hold power to end abusive practices and respect international human rights law. We enlist the public and the international community to support the cause of human rights for all. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Human Rights Watch conducts regular, systematic investigations of human rights abuses in some seventy countries around the world. Our reputation for timely, reliable disclosures has made us an essential source of information for those concerned with human rights. We address the human rights practices of governments of all political stripes, of all geopolitical alignments, and of all ethnic and religious persuasions. Human Rights Watch defends freedom of thought and expression, due process and equal protection of the law, and a vigorous civil society; we document and denounce murders, disappearances, torture, arbitrary imprisonment, discrimination, and other abuses of internationally recognized human rights. Our goal is to hold governments accountable if they transgress the rights of their people. Human Rights Watch began in 1978 with the founding of its Europe and Central Asia division (then known as Helsinki Watch). Today, it also includes divisions covering Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Middle East. In addition, it includes three thematic divisions on arms, children’s rights, and women’s rights. It maintains offices in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, London, Brussels, Moscow, Tashkent, Tblisi, and Bangkok. Human Rights Watch is an independent, nongovernmental organization, supported by contributions from private individuals and foundations worldwide. It accepts no government funds, directly or indirectly. The staff includes Kenneth Roth, executive director; Michele Alexander, development director; Reed Brody, advocacy director; Carroll Bogert, communications director; John T. Green, operations director, Barbara Guglielmo, finance director; Lotte Leicht, Brussels office director; Michael McClintock, deputy program director; Patrick Minges, publications director; Maria Pignataro Nielsen, human resources director; Malcolm Smart, program director; Wilder Tayler, legal and policy director; and Joanna Weschler, United Nations representative. Jonathan Fanton is the chair of the board. Robert L. Bernstein is the founding chair. The regional directors of Human Rights Watch are Peter Takirambudde, Africa; José Miguel Vivanco, Americas; Mike Jendrzejczyk (Acting), Asia; Elizabeth Andersen, Europe and Central Asia; and Hanny Megally, Middle East and North Africa. The thematic division directors are Joost R. Hiltermann, arms; Lois Whitman, children’s; and LaShawn R. Jefferson, women’s. The members of the board of directors are Jonathan Fanton, Chair; Robert L. Bernstein, Founding Chair, Lisa Anderson, David M. Brown, William Carmichael, Dorothy Cullman, Gina Despres, Irene Diamond, Fiona Druckenmiller, Edith Everett, Michael Gellert, Vartan Gregorian, Alice H. Henkin, James F. Hoge, Jr., Stephen L. Kass, Marina Pinto Kaufman, Wendy Keys, Bruce J. Klatsky, Joanne Leedom - Ackerman, Josh Mailman, Joel Motley, Samuel K. Murumba, Jane Olson, Peter Osnos, Kathleen Peratis, Catherine Powell, Bruce Rabb, Sigrid Rausing, Orville Schell, Sid Sheinberg, Gary G. Sick, Malcolm Smith, Domna Stanton, John Studzinski, Maureen White, Maya Wiley. Emeritus Board: Roland Algrant, Adrian DeWind, and Malcolm Smith. GENEVA INITIATIVE ON PSYCHIATRY Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry is the main development agency working in mental health care in Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States (CCEE/NIS), and it focuses its efforts on the principle of empowerment of local mental health reformers and their organizations. Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry engages in a wide spectrum of mental health related work: pilot projects, policy development, structural projects, training and publication programs, NGO development and exchange of experience and know-how between mental health reformers in the CCEE/NIS. Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry collaborates, internationally, with mental health organizations such as the World Health Organization and the World Psychiatric Association, and strives, at local level, to promote and deepen cooperation between mental healthcare facilities and their users, family members and user organizations. Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry monitors the human rights situation in mental health in all countries where it operates, and combats the political abuse of psychiatry wherever it is found to occur. Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry General secretary: Robert van Voren The international foundation Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry sprang to life in 1980 to combat the political abuse of psychiatry which at that moment was widely used as a tool of repression in the Soviet Union and in a number of Eastern European countries. Its campaigns helped to force the Soviet All-Union Society of Psychiatrists and Neuropathologists (AUSPN) to withdraw from the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) in early 1983. In 1989 the situation was changing dramatically in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. In the preceding two years, virtually all political prisoners had been released from prisons, camps, exile and psychiatric hospitals, the latter group being the last ones to be set free. When increasing numbers of Soviet psychiatrists contacted the organization with the request to assist them in reforming mental health care in their country, it felt it had a duty to respond positively and to help end the legacy of Soviet totalitarian psychiatry. In 1993, the Network of Reformers in Psychiatry was established, which developed into a support group and think tank for mental health reform for countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States (CCEE/NIS). It now unites some 600 mental health reformers in 29 countries. It is multi-disciplinary: among its members are psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, social workers, sociologists, lawyers, relatives of the mentally ill as well as a growing number of users. More than a hundred non-governmental mental health organizations in the CCEE/NIS are linked to the Network. Geneva Initiatives strives to improve the lives of the users of mental health care services, users being both consumers and their relatives and dependents alike. However, Geneva Initiative also strives for a structural improvement of their situation, and thus tends to concentrate on programs with a structural nature, such as policy reform, institutional reform, care program reform and educational reform. In addition, we try to combine the positive sides of pioneering and taking risks with the need to achieve sustainability – daring programs do not make sense if there is no chance of future funding from regular financial sources. However, at the same time, without daring programs the barrier of stagnation and inertia often cannot be overcome. Board of Directors Prof . Robin Jacoby (UK, Chairman); Drs. Robert Van Voren (NL, General Secretary); Drs. Rudi Rust (NL, Treasurer); Dr. Jim Birley (UK, Past President); Prof. Richard Bonnie; Drs. Gerard Doornkate (NL); Dr. Ray Freebury (CDN); Dr. Dorothea Holman (UK); Ms. Pien de Lange (NL); Mr. Lars Olof Ljungberg (S); Ms. Ellen Mercer (USA); Ms. Jane Salvage (UK); Mr. Joel Slack (USA); Drs. Conny Westgeest (NL). GIP Staff Hilversum: Robert Van Voren (Director); Jan Veldmeijer; Maaike Hooghoudt; Mariska Kools; Rob Keukens, Ella Terburg; Cisca Goedhart. Vilnius: Dana Migaliova (Director); Irena Kuldos; Alexander Avramenko. Sofia: Elena Dimitrova (Director);