E/CN.4/2001/83/Add.1 page 15 from China, the Special Rapporteur personally interviewed a Chinese woman who had come in one of the boats and who, after transiting through several detention centres, had been released, although her immigrant status had still not been settled. 55. The Special Rapporteur also held meetings with NGOs and with the lawyers of some of the women held in the aforementioned centre. She was informed that many of the detainees had been taken initially to the Prince George penitentiary. The lawyers, NGOs and the persons actually detained there agreed that the place was not suitable for the detention of such persons, who - it should not be forgotten - are victims twice over, since they are also the victims of trafficking. 56. On this same subject, the Special Rapporteur had the opportunity to speak privately with a Chinese woman who had arrived in one of the boats and who, after being interned in the Prince George penitentiary and later in Burnaby, had been released pending a decision on her claim for refugee status. The woman told the Special Rapporteur that her family had suffered persecution in China and had made all the arrangements for her to leave the country. When she had arrived by boat on the coast of British Columbia, she had been arrested for having no documents and taken to the Prince George penitentiary. She said that in November 1999 one of the female penitentiary guards had come to the cell she shared with other women and, through an interpreter, told them they had to change cells immediately. She said she asked the guard if she could move first herself and bring her belongings later. The interpreter told her that if she did not comply quickly, the guard would handcuff her and would take her by force. The woman said that the guard left and returned a short while later with another three guards, who seized her by each leg and by the waist, pulled her out of bed and threw her out of the cell. The woman said that she hit her foot against the iron door and her head against the wall. Feeling the blow she began to cry, because she could not move. She said they seized her again with the help of a male police officer to take her to the new cell. When she woke up the next day, she could not move, and so they took her to the infirmary and from there to the hospital, according to her, handcuffed at all times. When she returned from the hospital, she says she had to spend 3 days in a wheelchair and 15 days walking on crutches. Apparently, one night one of her cell companions was very upset and struck her bed hard. One of the women guards came over and aggressed them verbally. She began to sob, whereupon the guard came back and threatened her again. The woman interviewed said that at that moment, feeling so miserable, she threw herself to the ground and decided to commit suicide. She began to beat her head on the ground until the guards came back and seized her again, handcuffed her and took her, she said, to another part of the penitentiary where there were only Western women. When she arrived in the new section, she said they locked her up in solitary confinement, where she remained alone for 25 days. According to her, a few days later another two of her cell companions arrived in handcuffs. She said they were only allowed to leave the cell for one hour a day and never together. The woman interviewed asked the warden why they were allowed out for not more than an hour. According to what the woman told the Special Rapporteur, the warden had told them that they could not come into contact with criminals. She said the food was passed under the cell door. In the end she was transferred back to Burnaby. Although she was very keen to be with the other women, without knowing why she just sat down and began to cry. She then asked to be transferred to a cell where she would be alone.