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Condemned prisoner fails in battery suicide attempt

A prisoner sentenced to death attempted to commit suicide on Friday but doctors saved his life.

The prisoner, Chang Pao-hui (張胞輝), swallowed 13 batteries with drinking water in his cell in Hualien Prison but staff saw the incident on security cameras and intervened.

He was rushed to hospital where he underwent surgery.

He is thought to have been unable to bear the stress of waiting for his execution.

"I felt sorry and sad on hearing about the incident," Minister of Justice Morley Shih (施茂林) told a legislative judicial committee meeting yesterday

Chang's execution has been delayed by more than 20 months because the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) has said it is trying to carry out as few executions as possible with the eventual goal of abolishing the death penalty.

Chang had attempted to commit suicide by swallowing chopsticks in a prison during his trail.

Prison official Ko Huang-ming (葛煌明) told reporters that while one of the batteries was in Chang's stomach, 12 batteries had lodged in his large and small intestines.

Ko said that Chang's life was not in danger after a three-hour operation to remove the batteries, adding that Chang had seemed emotional recently.

He also said Chang's family rarely visited him in prison.

In February 2003 Chang broke into a residence, robbing and murdering an elderly man and his girlfriend.

After he was caught, investigators discovered that Chang had also killed his own girlfriend, surnamed Chen, in 2002.

The Supreme Count handed down a final verdict in June 2005, maintaining a death penalty issued by the Taiwan High Court.

In January another condemned prisoner, Huang Chih-hsien (黃志賢), committed suicide in Hualien Prison by swallowing three batteries.

Huang had told prison staff it was unbearable having to wait for his delayed execution.

Ko said there are seven prisoners, including Chang, who have been sentenced to death at Hualien Prison, and the prison has been making efforts to ensure prisoners sentenced to death do not kill themselves.

Shih yesterday said "the ministry has not changed its goal of abolishing the death penalty in Taiwan."

There are a total of 24 prisoners nationwide who have been sentenced to death but have not been executed.
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