Introduction: A Shocking Arrest with Chilling Implications
In April 2024, Radio Free Asia announced the release of Mark Madan, a 46-year-old Uyghur butcher and farmer, from a Chinese prison after serving a seven-year sentence. On the surface, this might seem like a routine news story—until you examine the details of his arrest.
Madan’s crime? Encouraging his friends to abstain from smoking and drinking at a 2016 gathering.
In most places, such advice would be dismissed as nagging or considered sound health guidance. But because Madan belonged to the Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority, Chinese authorities categorized his words as radicalization. His sentence began with time in a re-education camp before he was transferred to a full-fledged prison in Ürümqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Madan’s case is not unique. He was likely surrounded by thousands of other prisoners detained for similarly trivial reasons. But what makes his imprisonment even more sinister is the facility where he was held—a place shrouded in secrecy, known only as Number Three Detention Center in Daban Cheng.
This article will uncover the disturbing truths behind one of the largest and most secretive prisons in the world, revealing how it serves as a cornerstone of China’s systematic repression of the Uyghur people.
Daban Cheng: The Prison That Shouldn’t Exist
Daban Cheng is a district just southwest of Ürümqi, home to a sprawling detention facility officially named Number Three Detention Center. Despite its nondescript name, it is one of the most notorious prisons in China—and possibly the world.
This vast complex, covering approximately 220 acres (90 hectares), is fortified with 8-meter (25-foot) walls topped with electrified wire and watchtowers manned by armed guards. Its existence was first revealed to the outside world in 2017, when satellite imagery and investigative reports confirmed its construction.
By 2018, journalists from Reuters captured a photo of its entrance, which bore an innocent-sounding sign: Ürümqi Vocational Skills Education and Training Center. This phrase is commonly used by the Chinese government to describe facilities that function as re-education camps, where Uyghurs and other minorities are subjected to forced indoctrination.
In 2019, the center was rebranded as Number Three Detention Center, signaling its transformation into a formal prison. Satellite imagery showed that the facility had expanded, with new buildings stretching up to 1.5 kilometers (nearly 1 mile) long.
A Glimpse Inside the Walls
In April 2021, Associated Press journalist Dake Kang was granted a rare tour of Number Three Detention Center. His observations provided the first detailed look inside a prison that had long been shrouded in mystery.
According to Kang, the facility is divided into multiple sections, each containing 240 cells. Each cell has at least one window, which, as the prison director Zhu Hongbin proudly stated, is “totally unbreakable.”
Inside the control room, two dozen screens stream live footage from the cells—an Orwellian surveillance system that ensures inmates are constantly monitored. Not only are they watched, but the guards also control what they see. Inmates can only watch state-run television broadcasts or government-approved educational videos—a form of psychological conditioning aimed at erasing their cultural and religious identity.
A particularly chilling detail from Kang’s visit was his observation of Uyghur prisoners sitting in uniform rows, legs crossed in lotus position, backs ramrod straight, eyes fixed on a television screen playing Communist Party propaganda. This scene resembled an indoctrination session rather than a legitimate educational program.
While officials insisted that Number Three was merely a “pre-trial detention center” where inmates could be held for up to one year, testimonies from former prisoners revealed a far grimmer reality.
Torture, Indoctrination, and a Life of Fear
Though the official tour didn’t reveal physical abuse, former detainees later described horrific conditions inside the prison.
- Frequent Beatings: One former prisoner, Paride Marty, recalled seeing teenage inmates with their skin beaten “bloody and raw”.
- Electrocution and Restraints: A former teacher, who remained anonymous, reported hearing the screams of detainees shocked with electric batons or beaten with metal chairs.
- Forced Indoctrination: Prisoners are subjected to around-the-clock propaganda sessions, forced to renounce their religious beliefs and pledge loyalty to the Communist Party.
- Forced Labor: After their sentence, many prisoners are sent to “vocational training” camps, which international organizations have exposed as forced labor facilities producing goods for export.
Chinese authorities claim these facilities aim to combat “terrorism” and “extremism,” but the reality is that Uyghurs are being punished for everyday behaviors—praying, speaking their language, refusing alcohol, or even having too many children.
Genocide in Slow Motion
According to Genocide Watch, China’s policies in Xinjiang fit multiple stages of genocide, including discrimination, persecution, and extermination.
Beijing’s strategy, officially called The Great Development of the Northwest, involves:
- Mass Internment – At least 2 million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims have been detained since 2017.
- Erasure of Identity – Religious practices, cultural traditions, and even the Uyghur language are banned or discouraged.
- Forced Assimilation – Uyghur women are forced to marry Han Chinese men, and children are forcibly taken from families to be raised in state institutions.
- Mass Sterilization – From 2015 to 2018, the Uyghur birth rate dropped by 84% due to forced sterilization and abortions.
- Organ Harvesting – Evidence suggests the Chinese government is executing prisoners to harvest their organs for transplants.
In April 2022, a study published in the American Journal of Transplantation found 71 cases where organ donors were executed before being declared brain-dead—a clear indication of state-sanctioned organ harvesting.
The World Watches, But Will It Act?
Despite growing evidence of mass internment, forced labor, sterilization, and even organ harvesting, China continues to deny any wrongdoing. Officials claim the detention centers have been closed, but reports indicate they have simply been rebranded as prisons like Number Three Detention Center.
The global response has been shockingly muted. While some countries have imposed sanctions on Chinese officials, there has been no coordinated international action to stop these human rights abuses.
As of late 2024, Number Three Detention Center remains operational. Google Maps still labels it as Ürümqi Vocational Skills Education Training Center, and bizarrely, it has user reviews—some sarcastically calling it a “fashion school,” others bluntly labeling it a concentration camp.
The world must continue documenting, exposing, and pressuring China to halt its repression. The worst crime is silence, for silence allows persecution to thrive in the shadows.
FAQ: Understanding Xinjiang’s Repression
Q: Why is China detaining Uyghurs?
A: Officially, China claims it is combating terrorism. In reality, it is conducting a systematic erasure of Uyghur identity through imprisonment, indoctrination, and forced assimilation.
Q: What happens inside the detention centers?
A: Prisoners undergo forced indoctrination, physical abuse, and forced labor. Many are subjected to sterilization or organ harvesting.
Q: How many people are imprisoned?
A: Estimates suggest at least 2 million Uyghurs have been detained since 2017.
Q: What can be done?
A: Increased international sanctions, corporate accountability, and continued exposure of these crimes are crucial in pressuring Beijing to end these abuses.