Ten convicts pass Joint College Entrance Examination

Ten prison inmates have passed this year's Joint College Entrance Exam (JCEE) and hope to become university freshmen, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) said yesterday.

According to the ministry, 15 inmates took the JCEE this year. Ten of them passed the exam and will become freshmen this fall if their parole applications are approved. Two of them have gained admission to National Taiwan Normal University (國立師範大學) and the National Taiwan University of Arts (國立台灣藝術大學).

The ministry refused to give more details regarding these inmates, such as their names, the lengths of their sentences, the prisons where they reside and whether their parole applications had been approved.

An MOJ official said the ministry is handling such cases more carefully in light of the "Hwakang Wolf" (華岡之狼) case.

The "Hwakang Wolf," surnamed Yang (楊), is a serial rapist who is now serving a 16-year jail term at Taipei Prison. He passed last year's JCEE and was admitted to the sociology department of National Taiwan University.

However, after a series of meetings last year, the ministry decided to reject his parole application following a public outcry.

Yang filed another parole application this year but was rejected again by Taipei Prison's Parole Committee on July 23. In rejecting the application, the committee cited Taipei Prison psychologists who said that it is quite possible that Yang would reoffend, even though he has made tremendous in curbing his violent behavior toward women.

"Too much attention may not be a good thing for these inmates. Too much public pressure will affect the decision of their parole requests as well. We want to protect more innocent people but we also hope to give them [the inmates] a chance to go back to school," the official said.