// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Trisam Prison's walls say? "We've got you barred.
 Interactive map of Trisam | |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Status | Former re-education-through-labour facility; subsequent use uncertain |
| Security class | Re-education through labour |
| Opened | February 1992 |
Trisam, commonly referred to in English-language human-rights reporting as Trisam Prison or the Trisam Re-education-through-Labour Centre, was the informal Tibetan name for the Tibet Autonomous Region Re-education-through-Labour Centre in Doilungdêqên District, approximately 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) west of central Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China.[1]
Trisam opened as a re-education-through-labour (laojiao) facility in February 1992.[1][2] Human Rights Watch reported that many Tibetan political detainees previously held at facilities in the Sangyip Prison Complex were transferred to Trisam in mid-1992.[3]
The facility was an administrative detention centre rather than a prison for people sentenced through the ordinary criminal courts. Under China's former re-education-through-labour system, individuals could be assigned terms of administrative detention without a criminal trial.[3] The national re-education-through-labour system was formally abolished in December 2013.[4]
Name and location
[edit]Trisam was not the facility's formal Chinese administrative name. Human Rights Watch described Trisam as a Tibetan locality name associated with Toelung Bridge, while the International Campaign for Tibet described it as a colloquial name derived from a nearby bridge.[3][5]
Amnesty International identified its official institution as the Tibet Autonomous Region Re-education-through-Labour Centre, transliterating its Chinese name as Xizang Zizhiqu Laojiaosuo. It placed the centre in Toelung Dechen County, approximately 14 kilometres from central Lhasa.[1]
The former county became Doilungdêqên District in 2015. Trisam should therefore not be confused with Qushui Prison, also known in Tibetan-language sources as Chushur Prison, which is a separate prison farther south of Lhasa.[6]
History
[edit]Trisam became operational as a laojiao facility in February 1992.[1][2] Human Rights Watch described it in 1996 as a newly established re-education-through-labour centre in Toelung County which had received many political prisoners transferred from the Sangyip complex.[3]
One of the Sangyip facilities from which prisoners were transferred was Outridu, also known as Wuzhidui or Number Five Unit. Human Rights Watch reported that most known political prisoners at Outridu were moved to Trisam in mid-1992, possibly following a protest by prisoners at Sangyip in May 1991.[3]
The International Campaign for Tibet reported that some Tibetan nuns who had received administrative sentences following political demonstrations around Lhasa eventually served their terms at Trisam. The organisation described Trisam as the principal Tibet Autonomous Region re-education-through-labour facility by this period.[2]
In 1996, Human Rights Watch identified three re-education-through-labour facilities in Lhasa: Yitridu and Outridu within the Sangyip complex, and Trisam in Toelung County.[3]
Organisation and detainees
[edit]Amnesty International reported in 2002 that Trisam was divided into at least three units. Unit 1 held male political detainees, Unit 2 held male criminal detainees, and Unit 3 held women, including both political and criminal detainees.[1]
According to Amnesty International, approximately 160 political detainees were known to have been held at Trisam between its opening in 1992 and 2002.[1] Human Rights Watch and other organisations documented Tibetan monks, nuns and laypeople receiving administrative re-education-through-labour terms at the facility for political activity.[3]
Human Rights Watch reported, for example, that Ngawang Tharchin was assigned a three-year re-education-through-labour term at Trisam in 1996 after publicly disputing official claims concerning Tibet's historical relationship with China.[7]
Juvenile detainees were also reportedly sent to the facility. Amnesty International reported in 1995 that some juvenile detainees were transferred from the Gutsa Detention Centre to Trisam after being assigned administrative re-education-through-labour sentences.[8]
Conditions and allegations of abuse
[edit]Human-rights organisations documented allegations of physical abuse, compulsory labour, solitary confinement and poor conditions at Trisam.
In a 2002 report, Amnesty International stated that former political detainees described poor and unsanitary living conditions, inadequate food and clothing, and insufficient medical treatment.[1] Detainees were reportedly required to work for more than eight hours per day, with work including vegetable cultivation, handling human waste for use as fertiliser, digging, construction work, cutting stone and carrying bricks and stone blocks.[1]
Amnesty International also reported that four former Trisam detainees were known to have died as a result of alleged abuse at Trisam and earlier places of detention, including one person who died while in custody and three who died after release.[1]
Among those cases was Sherab Ngawang, a Tibetan nun who had been detained as a juvenile. Amnesty International reported that she was repeatedly beaten, including with electric batons, while serving a three-year term at Trisam. She died in April 1995 at the age of fifteen.[1]
Another was Yeshe Samten, a 22-year-old monk from Ganden Monastery, who was released from Trisam in May 1998 after serving a two-year term. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International reported that he died six days later, allegedly from injuries caused by abuse during detention.[1][9]
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy reported in the early 2000s that at least eight cells at Trisam were used for solitary confinement.[10]
Abolition of re-education through labour and subsequent use
[edit]China formally abolished the re-education-through-labour system on 28 December 2013. The decision provided for people who were still serving re-education-through-labour terms to be released and for their remaining terms not to be enforced.[4]
The subsequent function of the former Trisam site is uncertain. Satellite imagery examined by the International Campaign for Tibet in 2018 showed that the former facility remained substantially intact but had been redeveloped. ICT reported the construction of new buildings and walls but noted that watchtowers visible in older imagery were no longer apparent. It suggested that the site might have been repurposed as a compulsory education or similar facility, but stated that this could not be confirmed.[5]
Possible identification with Duilong Compulsory Isolation Drug Rehabilitation Centre
[edit]A 2021 open-source investigation by the Tibet Research Project geolocated the former Trisam facility at approximately 29.63864478°N, 90.98179196°E.[11]
The Tibet Research Project initially identified the site in Chinese-language material as Duilong RTL (堆龙劳教所) and proposed that the former labour-reeducation institution may subsequently have become the Duilong Compulsory Isolation Drug Rehabilitation Centre (西藏堆龙强制隔离戒毒所).[11] The identification was subsequently cited by the Tibet Advocacy Coalition in a 2021 report.[12]
Chinese-language sources confirm that an institution called the Duilong Labour Re-education Centre (堆龙劳教所) was operating in the Naiqiong area of Doilungdêqên in 2010.[13]
An institution called the Tibet Duilong Compulsory Isolation Drug Rehabilitation Centre continues to operate under the Tibet Autonomous Region judicial administration. Official sources referred to the institution in 2021,[14] 2025,[15] and 2026.[16]
No publicly available Chinese government source has been identified that explicitly states that the former Trisam Re-education-through-Labour Centre was renamed or converted into the Duilong Compulsory Isolation Drug Rehabilitation Centre. The proposed institutional continuity therefore remains an open-source identification rather than a confirmed official history.[11][12]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 China: Call for release of Tibetan prisoner, Anu, detained without charge or trial (PDF) (Report). Amnesty International. December 2002. ASA 17/058/2002. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 Rukhag 3: The Nuns of Drapchi Prison (PDF) (Report). International Campaign for Tibet. 2002. p. 6. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Barnett, Robert; Tibet Information Network (1996). Cutting Off the Serpent's Head: Tightening Control in Tibet, 1994–1995 (Report). Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- 1 2 "全国人民代表大会常务委员会关于废止有关劳动教养法律规定的决定" [Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Abolishing Legal Provisions Concerning Re-education Through Labour] (in Chinese). Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. 28 December 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- 1 2 "China's control state in Lhasa". International Campaign for Tibet. 4 October 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- ↑ "New prison in Lhasa: increased surveillance for political prisoners, 'oppressive' cell-blocks". International Campaign for Tibet. 20 January 2006. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- ↑ China: State Control of Religion (Report). Human Rights Watch. 1997. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- ↑ Persistent Human Rights Violations in Tibet (Report). Amnesty International. 1995. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- ↑ "HRW World Report 1999: China and Tibet". Human Rights Watch. 1999. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- ↑ Annual Report 2003 (PDF) (Report). Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy. 2003. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 Jarvis, Tom; Taylor, Robin; Dolecek, Jenna (2021). Open Source Investigation of Detention in Tibet (PDF) (Report). Tibet Research Project. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- 1 2 Assaulting Identity: China's New Coercive Strategies in Tibet (PDF) (Report). Tibet Advocacy Coalition. 2021. p. 29. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- ↑ "西藏堆龙劳教所围绕总要求完成各项任务" [Tibet Duilong Labour Re-education Centre carries out work around overall requirements] (in Chinese). 20 October 2010. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- ↑ "西藏堆龙强制隔离戒毒所、拉萨市禁毒办、乃琼街道办联合启动"全民禁毒宣传月"活动" (in Chinese). Department of Justice of the Tibet Autonomous Region. 18 June 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- ↑ "关于拟推荐全区司法行政系统社区矫正领域先进集体和先进个人的公示" (in Chinese). Department of Justice of the Tibet Autonomous Region. 29 August 2025. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
- ↑ "西藏堆龙强制隔离戒毒所：开展禁戒毒普法宣传教育活动". 中国西藏新闻网 (in Chinese). 20 May 2026. Retrieved 8 August 2026.