The Ministry of Justice yesterday said that it was considering changes to prison policies, especially those regarding inmates’ families, to better rehabilitate prisoners and facilitate their reintegration into society after their release or parole.
The possible reforms include changes to prison facilities, making the parole process more transparent, introducing familial support, increasing the number of rehabilitation volunteers and helping inmates gain skill certificates, Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三).
Agency of Corrections Director Huang Chun-tang (黃俊棠) said overcrowding in prisons would be addressed by expansion projects for Taipei Prison, Taoyuan Prison, Second Yunlin Prison and Bade Prison in Taoyuan.
Photo: Chien Lee-chung, Taipei Times
The expansions are to accommodate a total of 4,755 prisoners in 2.31m2 cells with individual beds, he said.
Taipei Prison has 51 cellblocks, each about 19m2 to 26m2, meaning that with 16 inmates per block, each prisoner has only 1.65m2 of space, Huang said.
The expansion projects aim to eliminate overcrowding in prisons for at least four years, Chiu said.
More volunteers would be sought to carry out and improve the efficiency of individual and group rehabilitation efforts, the Ministry of Justice said.
In an effort to maintain familial relations — a key component to aid the reintegration of inmates into society — the ministry is to launch a project in which prisoners record stories for their children aged six or younger, it said.
The recordings would be made available for inmates’ family members and social welfare groups to help children cope with their fathers not being present, the ministry said, adding that the program would later be expanded to female inmates.
A number of academics and experts have been consulted in the drafting of new parole approval criteria, Chiu said.
The severity of the crime, the risk of an inmate repeating the offense and their attitude and performance during imprisonment are to be factors taken into consideration when parole applications are reviewed, he said.
The ministry said it is considering turning the current review method — in which victims and general members of the public are asked to review parole applications — into an alternative process, in which victims and social representatives would be asked to weigh in on applications via telephone or video conference.
The ministry is to allocate NT$70 million (US$2.3 million) annually to the corrections agency to have companies and organizations, such as Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團) or Rotary International, offer courses at the prison or at alternative locations, it said.
The courses would cover more than 26 specialties, including stacker operation, baking, carpentry, pottery, electrical wiring and digital drawing, to teach inmates skills they could use to find employment upon their release or parole, the ministry said.
Correctional facilities must not only render just punishment to those who have broken the law, but also proactively re-educate them and ensure their smooth reintegration into society, Chiu said.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
RSS