Matthew Radalj, an Australian video producer who once lived in Beijing, has come forward with disturbing details of his nearly five-year incarceration in a Chinese prison. Speaking to the BBC, Radalj described enduring physical abuse, forced labour, starvation, and solitary confinement, claiming he was wrongly convicted in 2020 after a dispute with shopkeepers at an electronics market over the price of a mobile phone screen.
After his arrest, Radalj said he was forced to sign a false confession of robbery, allegedly told that proclaiming innocence in China’s legal system was futile. “I hadn’t slept or eaten or had water for 48 hours and then I was forced to sign a big stack of documents,” he told BBC. The court documents show that his confession helped reduce his sentence to four years.
Abuse, Deprivation, and Overcrowded Cells
Radalj was sent to Beijing No. 2 Prison—reserved for international inmates, where he shared filthy cells with over a dozen men. He was deprived of sleep, subjected to beatings, and denied basic hygiene. “We were banned from showering or cleaning ourselves, sometimes for months at a time,” he recalled. “Even the toilet could be used only at specific allotted times… waste from the toilets above would constantly drip down onto us.”
He added that inmates, mostly from countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, North Korea, and the US, were housed in rooms where lights stayed on 24/7, and meals typically consisted of cabbage in dirty water and plain mantou (bread).
A Rigged Points System
The prison enforced a “good behaviour” point system where inmates could earn up to 100 points monthly by studying Communist Party materials, doing factory work, or informing on fellow prisoners. To reduce their sentence, inmates needed at least 4,200 points requiring near-perfect monthly scores for over three years.
However, guards reportedly deducted points arbitrarily, even for minor infractions like hoarding food, hanging socks incorrectly, or walking the “wrong” way. “It was psychological torture,” Radalj said. British ex-prisoner Peter Humphrey confirmed similar experiences, saying, “There were cameras everywhere… If you crossed a line marked on the ground, you would be punished.”
Forced Labour and Starvation as Punishment
Radalj said refusing to work in the prison factory led to 14 months of restricted access to extra rations. Even when inmates worked on a prison farm growing vegetables like tomatoes and okra, they were forbidden from eating the produce. “At the end of the season they would push it all into a big hole and bury it,” he said. “If you were caught with a chilli… you’d go straight to solitary for eight months.”
Solitary Confinement and Psychological Toll
After getting caught in a brawl between Nigerian and Taiwanese inmates over kitchen duties, Radalj was placed in solitary confinement for 194 days. He described the experience as mentally crushing: “You start to go crazy, whether you like it or not… After four months, you just start talking to yourself all the time.”
Despite the conditions, he managed to keep a journal writing tiny notes on peeled COVID-19 mask layers with help from North Korean prisoners, which he hid in his jacket lining before being released on October 5, 2024.
New Life After Trauma
Upon arriving in Perth, Radalj reunited with his father and later married his long-time girlfriend. Now, they spend their days making candles and small products, although he continues to process the trauma. He has also tried reaching out to the families of inmates still imprisoned, many of whom haven’t heard from their loved ones in over a decade.
