Recently Released Henan Human Rights Defender Jia Pin Reveals Suspected Forced Labor at Henan Yuxi Prison

October 13, 2026, our outlet learned that Jia Pin, a Henan human rights defender released this September, disclosed that while serving his sentence at Yuxi Prison, he was forced to perform more than ten hours of intense labor every day. Prison food was poor, and inmates’ health was seriously affected. Jia Pin also alleged that Hangzhou Topsun Company worked with the prison to use inmates to produce outdoor products. He called on the international community to pay attention to the forced labor and human rights abuses involved.

The following is Jia Pin’s detailed account of Henan Yuxi Prison:

After I was sentenced, I was sent to Yuxi Prison in Luoyang to serve my sentence. Living conditions at this prison were extremely poor, and the food was especially bad! Working hours were long and the work was very intense. The prison mainly produces bags. A large company called Topsun, headquartered in Hangzhou, colludes with corrupt prison officials and cruelly abuses inmates, forcing them to perform more than ten hours of intense labor every day, using completely free labor and ruthlessly exploiting inmates!

Many inmates here often get sick. The food is poor and unsanitary, and many people are sickly all day long. I have also heard that Topsun works closely with many prisons in Henan, using completely free labor to produce outdoor products such as hand carts and travel bags, most of which are sold at high prices in the United States, Europe, Japan, and elsewhere. So I would like to ask friends or human rights organization staff: How can we get the international community to sanction this unscrupulous company on grounds of human rights violations, unfair competition, dumping, and the like?

I have to say that human rights violations in this prison are extremely serious! Many people have suffered severe physical and mental abuse! People often become seriously ill or die in prison! I even heard from inmates who had been there longer that a few years ago, police beat people to death and nobody did anything about it! My own health was also seriously affected here because of the terrible living conditions! Yet Topsun, a world-famous outdoor products manufacturer, has amassed enormous blood-soaked wealth here!

Coleman is an American brand with a hundred-year history. I don’t know whether the company knows that after it gives orders to Topsun, Topsun colludes with corrupt officials in Henan’s prisons to ruthlessly exploit and abuse inmates, using completely free labor and making them create wealth for the company day and night despite extremely poor living conditions. Many inmates are also frequently beaten by guards, shocked with electricity, sprayed with pepper spray, or placed in solitary confinement!

Topsun claims to have multiple production bases, but that is just for show. In fact, most of its production orders are completed by inmates in several prisons in Henan, such as Luoyang Yuxi Prison, where I was held. This prison mainly produces goods ordered by Topsun, along with orders for some other small companies. The products are basically exported to Europe and the United States. They collude with corrupt brutes in Henan’s prison system to ruthlessly exploit inmates and seriously violate human rights!

I am not saying that inmates in prison should not take part in labor. But in a place like Henan Yuxi Prison, where inmates are ruthlessly exploited, made to perform intense labor in extremely poor living conditions, used as free labor, and cruelly abused, and where the prison colludes with a shady company like Topsun to make huge amounts of dirty money, this is clearly a crime! It is a serious violation of human rights! Reporting it domestically is useless! I can only pin my hopes on the international community sanctioning a shady company like Topsun!