It is a foggy morning in Dharamsala, the monsoon is doing its best pouring water all day and night. I arrive at GuChuSum and ask for Jampa. 'He is waiting in that room, third door at the left', the secretary says. When I see him he is little bit shy and seems worried about the interview. It's been only a few months since he arrived to Dharamsala. His glasses hiding some problem with his left eye but I don't know what it is. After shaking hands and a brief friendly talk he timidly starts to tell me his story.

'I was a monk in Sergen monastery, which is located in a very remote area that you can only reach after travelling several days on a horse. It was a big monastery with more than hundred and sixty monks before being partially destroyed in 1059 during the Cultural Revolution. But at the time I was there, there were only twenty five monks.
One day a Chinese Police arrived and said that only thirteen monks were allowed to live in the monastery. We agreed just waiting until he left, but secretly continued to live in the monastery the twenty five of us.'

Then he tells me about the incidents that lead him to prison.

'In 1994, five monks from my monastery, including me, made some propaganda posters in favour of the independence of Tibet and stick them in the walls of some public buildings. Some time later, on March 29 Police arrived to the monastery and we were arrested and taken to Chamdo police station. In this police station we were retained for more one month and interrogated three times per day, everyday.'

- Why exactly were you arrested for?

'They wanted to know who made the posters and who were behind the organization. We said there was no organization and that we did planed it all ourselves, which was true because in fact we signed the posters with our full names accepting total responsibility. Despite the truth was that we were the only organizers the police didn't believe us, they said we were too young to know anything about Tibet history. And so we were tortured constantly day after day during the interrogations, being beaten with iron fists and electric prods.

On the trial we were sentenced to imprisonment in Damchu jail, the imprisonment time varied according to the grade of implication that the judge estimated for each one of us. I was sentenced to twelve years in prison, plus five more years without any political rights. Other monks where sentenced to fifteen years in prison.'

Next he tells about his life in Damchu prison.

'During the first eleven days they taught us about the prison rules. Each day was the same routine. We were waken up at 4:30 in the morning to make military physical training. It was very hard physical exercise and if someone was not able to do it as required, then he or she would be punished without breakfast, beaten, or some kind of mental or physical torture like standing up facing straight at the sun for hours or singing patriotic Chinese songs.
There were many kind of tortures, not only staring at the sun for hours, but also holding your body against the wall with your arms while your legs are wide open.'

He leaves his chair and reproduces the posture against the wall so I could understand. It really looks a difficult posture that I could only hold for a few minutes.

In the prison there were more than 150 prisoners. Not only political prisoners but other types of prisoners as well. The non political prisoners were sent to work out of the prison, while the others like Jampa did their work inside the prison. The main tasks were cutting wood, cleaning the toilets, carrying loads from one place to another, etc. Breakfast consisted on a tea cup and some tsampa (roasted flour mixed with water). Lunch was little bit better, some bread with steamed vegetables. And for dinner there was again tea and tsampa.

'It was not enough food for all the work and exercise that we were forced to do. Also, due to the tortures that I suffered during my time inside the prison, I have lost complete sight on my left eye. And I felt very weak all the time, falling sick constantly. When taken to the doctor I was given medicines which I didn't know what really where. A friend of mine who could read Chinese told me that they were three or four years out of date.'

'The worst time in prison for me were the last years, when I was moved to a tiny small cell with no windows. It was very dark, cold, and I could hardly move.'

I ask him about his release from prison. - When did it happen and how?

'When I was released, in March 2006, I was taken to a police station where my family were going to pick me up. Before leaving, my family was forced to sign an official statement declaring that if I would ever again be involved in any political activity they would be punished for it.

Both my parents died while I was in prison, so my three brothers had to take care of me because I was unable to find a job. All the time under surveillance and forbidden to go to Lhasa, the only place where I could possibly find a job.

So finally I decided to go secretly to Lhasa on 2007 in order to visit a friend of mine and borrow some money to escape to India. It's been less than a year since I arrived to Dharamsala. I'm quite happy living here and enjoying freedom, but at the same time I'm very sad for having been forced to live my people.'

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Further reading:
Chinese Propaganda and the True Insight of Tibet
Patriotic Re-education Campaign in monasteries