The body of one of the four prisoners that escaped from Taitung's Taiyuan Vocational Training Institute (
Meanwhile, Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
After checking fingerprints, police confirmed yesterday evening that the dead man was 33-year-old Chen Yung-sung (
Justice ministry officials speculated that Chen might have been washed away by the river after falling off the riverbank or while trying to cross the river to flee to mountain areas.
They suspected, if that that were the case, some or all of the other three might also have fallen into the river, swollen by rains from Typhoon Bilis.
The justice minister's inspection tour of the Taitung facility where the jailbreak occurred was thwarted by the temporary closure of the Taitung airport by heavy rain and strong winds. Chen's plane circled Taitung but eventually returned to Taipei, unable to land.
Chen ruled out disciplinary action against officials until a formal investigative report was complete.
He said that investigations by both the Taitung District Prosecutors' Office and the ministry's ad-hoc investigating force were continuing, but added that there must have been official negligence on the part of prison staff.
"According to prison regulations, patrols of cellblocks should have been conducted every 15 minutes but it seems that in this case the regulations were not obeyed," he said. "The question of why patrols were not carried out on time is a focus of our investigations," he said
The cell in which the four inmates had been confined was found empty at around 11:05pm on Tuesday night. It was estimated that the four escaped between 10:30pm and 11:00pm.
Chen also hinted that the country's correctional institutions may be in the grip of a common lack of discipline.
"Someone in the ministry told me yesterday that during the past three years the [management of] correction facilities has been lax."
"If that is so, prison staff might tend to neglect their duties. Inevitably such situations will cause problems," he said, adding that an urgent measure to prevent further similar incidents was to enhance prison security.
"The shortage of prison staff is a problem that cannot be solved easily due to budgetary shortages, but some improvements to facilities can be made without too much expenditure."
He said, for example, that had the security gate through which the four passed been made of railings rather than of a single steel plate, the gate could have been closed.
The security gate had been left partially open, enabling the prisoners to pass through to an area of the prison that was less secure to make their escape.
Prison authorities said they had left the opening for fear that the strong wind would blow the gate down.
Chen also said he wished to test the truth of this "justification" on the part of prison staff.
In addition to inspecting the prison, Chen said, another purpose of his intended tour was to express his appreciation to the Taitung County Police Bureau (
Three Control Yuan members have also started an investigation into the escape.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from