Facing accusations that it was giving preferential treatment to “celebrity” prisoners, Taipei Prison yesterday said there was nothing wrong with such practices.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday that former Kuo Hua Life Insurance Co (國華人壽) chief executive officer Wong Da-ming (翁大銘), who entered Taipei Prison on June 1 to begin a two-year sentence for infractions against the Securities Transaction Law (證券交易法), was not put in a new inmates cell for a month — as per regulations — but stayed in a building for “special inmates.”
The newspaper said that Wong, who suffers from diabetes, had prison staff taking care of his daily needs.
Prison spokesman Wu Tse-sheng (吳澤生) said Wong and prisoners such as former China Development Financial Holdings Corp (中華開發金控) chairman Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英) were “special” prisoners who were all staying in the same building.
Wu, however, denied that Wong and Liu were receiving better treatment than “ordinary” inmates, adding all inmates received the same treatment, as per regulations.
Liu is serving a 22-month jail sentence for breach of trust.
The Liberty Times also reported that a legislator visited the prison on Wednesday — the day of the Dragon Boat Festival — to deliver zongzi (粽子), steamed pork dumplings, chicken soup and other dishes from Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐), a famous dumpling restaurant, to Liu and former Taiwan Pineapple Corp (台鳳) chairman Huang Tsung-hung (黃宗宏), who is serving an eight-and-a-half-year sentence for misusing funds from Chung Hsing Commercial Bank.
The newspaper said the legislator informed the warden of the delivery and that a prison manager wrote documents “on the warden’s orders” approving the delivery.
The food was brought in by a legislator, Wu said, adding that lawmakers “do not bring banned items into jail.”
However, as items could be concealed in them, zongzi and steamed dumplings are prohibited from the prison, the paper said.
Family members and friends of inmates are likelier to bring banned items, such as drugs, into prison, Wu said.
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