The building, constructed as a regular prison, will have extensive secret underground facilities and is planned to accommodate at least 10,000 inmates.
According to informed sources, the municipal government of Karamay, Xinjiang has put other construction projects on hold to speed up the building of a detention facility located at the Ayi Kule Reservoir on the western outskirts of Karamay, to be completed in October. The facility is only five meters above the ground but goes 40 meters below it, which is kept secret. According to plans, the facility will accommodate over 10,000 prisoners.
According to reports, as the Xinjiang authorities continue mass arrests and imprisonment of Muslims and other religious adherents and dissidents, “transformation through education” camps have become overcrowded; according to some scholars one million of Muslims are held there.
As Bitter Winter has reported earlier, state-owned buildings, like hospitals, factories, and schools have been converted into secret detention facilities. At some of the camps, detainees are forced to share beds and take turns sleeping due to the overcrowding. The Xinjiang authorities are expending every effort to construct the new secret prison to accommodate more detained people.
Source: BITTER WINTER / Li Benbo
