Green Islanders sorry to see prisons go

The government seems determined to close two prisons on Green Island despite protests from the island's residents.

Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) announced at the end of last year that the ministry is going to close down the two symbols of the White Terror -- the Green Island Prison (綠島監獄) and the Green Island Vocational Training Institute (綠島技能訓練所) -- within a year.

It was the ministry's goal to turn the island from "an island of the devils" to "an island in paradise," he said.

However, residents do not seem to appreciate the ministry's moves to reform the island's image and have been petitioning the government since January to leave open what they see as defining images of Green Island.

On June 10, Chen led a team of more than 30 reporters to visit Green Island before the prisons are officially closed.

At Taitung Airport, Green Island Township Chief Chen Chia-wen (陳嘉文) told Chen Ding-nan that the ministry's idea of closing the prisons was not supported by most residents.

"The prison and the vocational training institute have been the symbols of the island for decades," he said. "In addition, half of the staff at these two correction facilities are local residents. Once these two prisons are closed, they will have to either move to Taiwan for their new posts or lose their government jobs for good. It is not really fair for these people."

The justice minister defended the plan, telling the township chief that it was a well-organized policy and the ministry was actually helping Green Island residents establish a tourism industry.

"The Tourism Bureau (觀光局) will take over the facilities of the prison and the vocational training institute and turn them into sightseeing attractions," he said. "I believe that they [the Tourism Bureau] will have a good plan for this when the time comes," the minister said.

Green Island Vocational Training Institute Director Lee Chi-tai (李至台) said the institute's inmates had already been transferred.

"According to a direct order from the ministry, we finished moving the inmates on May 30," Lee said. "They were relocated to other institutes or prisons in Taitung County. Currently, we don't have any inmates in our custody. However, the staff will stay working here until they are transferred to other offices by the ministry."

Before it became a prison, the institute's facilities belonged to the Taiwan Garrison Command (警備總部), a key military group during the martial law era from 1949 to 1987.

The military used the facilities to detain those who were listed on the national hoodlums registry. In 1991, the facilities were transferred to the control of the Ministry of Justice, which decided to establish the institute there in 1993.

The ministry began a three-year renovation project in 1994 to turn the facility into a rehabilitation center that equipped prisoners with technical skills to prepare them for life on the outside.

The institute, designed to house 389 inmates and 94 staff, held 277 inmates before the transfer of inmates began. More than 80 percent of the inmates were convicted thieves. The institute trained the inmates to do laundry, plant vegetables and fix motor scooters.

"On Green Island," Lee said, "we depend on Taiwan for almost every aspect of our lives. However, by training these inmates to contribute, it saved a lot of money and time."