Looking for suicide-proof kit for your black jail? China’s Tiktok has got you covered
In our human rights work on China’s black jails, it has been extremely difficult to obtain photos or video of the facilities. These are secret places. No phones, no lawyer, no journalists, no family are allowed inside. Even the locations are kept hidden—typically a bag is placed over a prisoner’s head when they are moved in or out.
So far, we have relied on first person testimony to understand what these black jails are like.
But then we searched Douyin, China’s Tiktok (both developed by Beijing-based ByteDance) and we found something very surprising.
B2B companies that make equipment for China’s security services are advertising their suicide-proofed apparatus on the platform. For the first time, we can see up close what a brand-new Liuzhi cell probably looks like. We searched for the terms “留置” (Liuzhi, one of CCP’s two types of secret jail) and words related to suicide-proofing, such as”软包墙面” (ruanbao qiangmian, padded walls).
What we saw was just as horrifying as we’ve been told.
In recent years, China has legalized two black jail systems: (1) Liuzhi or retention in custody, which is focused on CCP members and state workers, and (2) Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (RSDL) for everyone else (many human rights activists and rights lawyers are locked up here).
Prisoners are kept for months or more, in complete isolation, subjected to extended interrogations and watched 24-hours by two guards. Any windows are blacked out. It’s constant, unending strip lighting. The psychological torture these conditions produce drive some to try to kill themselves. The authorities know this—it’s intentional to coerce a confession—so they suicide-proof the cells.
We found videos by three companies on Douyin showcasing their suicide-padded furniture and fittings, such as tables, chairs and walls, marketed specifically for Liuzhi.
The images produce an unsettling sense of being in an insane asylum. The scripts are chilling; they seem to take delight in point out the capacity for torture their products offer.
And, ironically, they do a much better job of describing Liuzhi than we ever could.
The basic facts of inhumane treatment we have heard about are confirmed in the videos:
- the isolation,
- the 24-hour surveillance by two guards,
- the always on lights, and,
- the need to ask for permission for everything, even the slightest movement.
The videos’ voiceovers describe how:
- Liuzhi cells are “heavy with the suffocating air of confinement,” the prisoner feels “forgotten by the world”
- Their padded furniture and walls prevent “accidental injuries during interrogation sessions,” hinting at physical torture
- Prisoners’ screams are simply swallowed up by the room
- One video boasts: “Not many people can survive a place like this without losing it.”
Two of the videos are posted by Guangzhou Youyinhui Building Materials Co., Ltd. In these, we see what looks like a Liuzhi facility showroom. The space is entirely in sickly grey with an interrogation desk and chairs, and a bed that pulls out from the wall like a shelf—suggesting that in some Liuzhi cells, prisoners live in their interrogation room. This is terrifying when you realise that Liuzhi can last up to 14 months.
There are no windows. Everything is lit by harsh strip lighting.
In one video, a voice narrates the harsh reality of life in Liuzhi,, while a Spanish guitar ballad plays in the background. The other video has no soundtrack.
The room is “fully padded, soundproofed, and collision-resistant… [and] heavy with a suffocating air of confinement.”
“Under the glare of 24-hour lighting, high-definition surveillance cameras cover every blind spot…The room’s dominant gray colour palette seems to cast a shadow over one's very mood.”
Two guards will “follow [you] like shadows”.
Most of your time “is spent sitting on a chair, staring at the padded walls… communication with the outside world is impossible. Visitation is strictly forbidden, making you feel entirely forgotten by the world.”
Youyinhui’s second video advertises the quality of the materials used to make this Liuzhi showroom.
We are told their suicide-padding can “prevent accidental injuries during interrogation sessions,” prompting the question: what accidental injuries?
The suicide-proofed walls are made from “high-quality nano-cotton soft padding (polyethylene foam) or fire-retardant soft padding (glass wool).”
Products follow fire safety and environmental standards, absorb sounds and “ensure physical safety”.
The floors are covered with anti-slip, sound-absorbing rubber flooring; all the corners of tables and chairs are covered in “anti-collision soft wrapping.” Even the doors are fully padded and equipped with combination locks to reinforce privacy and security.
The second company is on an account with the name, 谈话审讯桌椅工厂(Interrogation Room Furniture Factory) based in Henan. From the videos, it is not possible to tell which company is behind the video.
In the first video, the camera tracks down a hallway and enters several rooms, most that are still under construction. It looks like it is an older building that is being remodelled into a Liuzhi facility.
Construction works appears to be ongoing, with the tiny rooms only partially furnished; building materials such as sheeting and tape lie on the floor.
Some of the rooms still have windows, heavily frosted so the outside is not visible, and reinforced with what looks an internal steel mesh.
Both videos are soundtracked with crude horror movie music.
The voiceovers are even more chilling.
The thing that breaks your spirit the most in Liuzhi, it says, is the fact there is no outlet for your emotions.
“The walls and floor are padded. If you want to smash something, there’s nothing to smash. If you want to scream, your sounds will just be swallowed up by the room.”
You have to ask permission for everything, the voiceover continues.
“Not many people can survive a place like this without losing it.”
The lights are left on 24 hours, is how the second video begins.
“You have no idea what time it is; your only clue is when meals are served. You want to sleep, but the stark, white glare completely strips away any ability to sleep. You want to roll over, but two piercing eyes are staring intently at you. The most agonizing part isn't the interrogation—it's an environment so quiet that you can hear your own heartbeat.”
In the third video, by河南牧诗尔智能家具有限公司 (Henan Mushi'er Intelligent Furniture Co., Ltd er Group), the camera tracks into a Liuzhi interrogation room/cell, similar to those shown in the Youyinhui videos. There is the same sickly grey palette, the same padded interrogation tables, chair and walls. At the far end is a bathroom through a pair of swing doors. Inside there is no mirror, just a rubberized sink and toilet.
This video has no voiceover, just aggressively jaunty techno music.
Established:
In 2018 under the Supervision Law of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国监察法). Amended in 2025
Meaning:
Retention in Custody
Run by:
National Supervision Commission (NSC) and local supervision commissions.
Aimed at:
Party members, all government workers including public servants, employees of public schools, hospitals and state-owned enterprises, and anyone from the private sector suspected of being involved, or sometimes just a witness, in a case involving Party or state employees. Mainly targets malpractice in office such as corruption, also used for purges of Xi Jinping’s political rivals
Purpose:
To extract confessions through isolation and torture
Maximum duration:
14 months
Format:
Solitary confinement in suicide-proofed cells, no outside contact, no lawyer, 24-hour surveillance, interrogations at any time
Scale:
Massive. In 2025 alone, 47,000 people were placed under Liuzhi. Effective reach is in the tens of millions of people
The image at the top of this story was generated with AI.
