II. Methodology

Human Rights Watch conducted research for this report in Beijing and several other Chinese cities between April and May 2009. We spoke with 38 former black jail detainees from the Chinese provinces of Anhui, Gansu, Guangdong, Heilongjiang, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jilin, Liaoning, Ningxia, Shandong, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Zhejiang, and from the municipality of Chongqing. The detainees included men, women, and children, and individuals of varying socio-economic backgrounds. The report also draws on Chinese academic research, studies by domestic Chinese human rights organizations, and published accounts in both Chinese domestic and international media.

In conducting the research, our objective was to identify and speak with as many individuals as possible who had been detained in black jails, not solely petitioners. All those we interviewed, however, were petitioners and they reported that the people they had been detained with were also petitioners. While this suggests that black jails are used primarily against petitioners, it is possible that other such facilities exist and are used to house other categories of detainees. It is a question that merits further research.

The Chinese government strictly limits the activities of civil society and nongovernmental organizations on a variety of subjects, particularly those related to the operations of the nation's security forces. Our research thus required a high level of sensitivity to the security of both researchers and interviewees. The interviews took place in circumstances in which they could be conducted without surveillance and possible harassment by government officials or security forces. All those interviewed were informed of the purpose of the interview, its voluntary nature, and the ways in which the data would be used, and orally consented to be interviewed. All were told that they could decline to answer questions or could end the interview at any time. Participants did not receive any material compensation.

Because of the real possibility of reprisals, we have withheld the names of all of the former black jail detainees we spoke with.

The findings of this report are consistent with research by Chinese human rights organizations, including investigative reports by Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a Chinese and international group that focuses on exposing human rights abuses and promoting human rights capacity-building and advocacy, and a second Chinese human rights group which has expressly requested that its name be withheld.