The penalties at Drapchi were severe. Ms Sangdrol was forced to suffer beatings with iron rods and rubber pipes, electric cattle prods on the tongue, knitting and spinning until her fingers blistered, and six months in complete darkness while in solitary confinement.
There was also extremely unpleasant hard labour.
"For instance, we had to use night soil on the garden... You have to take turns to go down to the latrine and pass up the waste. When the bucket is pulled, inevitably it splashes and spills everywhere and it will go into your mouth," she said.
She still suffers headaches and kidney and stomach problems as a result of her treatment.
But, she said, "the mental torture was worse".
"We had to denounce his Holiness the Dalai Lama and were not allowed to engage in religious practice."
This answer is a measure of her commitment to her Buddhist beliefs and helps to explain her behaviour in jail.
Ms Sangdrol repeatedly defied the prison authorities, including singing revolutionary songs which were taped and smuggled out of jail, and this earned her ever-extended prison sentences.
She said the sacrifice was worth it.