As leading reporters and international human rights activists toured the renovated Freshman Disciplinary Camp yesterday, Dai Shou-nan (戴壽南), prison warden of the Green Island Prison, explained why the building is in the shape of an octagon.
"As you can see, while the cells surrounds the administration desk situated in the middle, it's easier to know what's going on in each direction," Dai said.
According to Dai, the full capacity of the disciplinary camp was between 400 and 500 prisoners, with each convict sharing an average of 0.7 pings of space in a cell ranging from 3 to 7 pings.
A few years ago, the KMT government had planned to remodel the camp as a detention center for young offenders.
Although renovations were started at the prison, the plan was not fully executed because of the transfer of power two years ago. The government now plans to include the camp, as well as a human rights monument nearby, in the memorial park project.
Commenting on the government's pledge to abolish the death penalty, Dai said that the government has to be very careful in dealing with the issue. He said it must strike a delicate balance between safeguarding the human rights of good people while not violating the human rights of bad people.
"After working at various jails for so many years, my observation is that there are those convicts who will correct their wrongs after serving time," Dai said.
"We also have those who have to be taught to know about their wrong-doings, and those who don't even care about changing themselves for anyone or anything."
Dai gave the example of one convicted murderer and rapist serving a 15-year term at the prison who is extremely uncooperative and knows a lot about his individual rights.
"He beats up some of the officers here, files complaints to the government and files lawsuits against jail officers, but what can we do? " Dai asked.
The Green Island Prison, which currently houses 134 convicts, is also included in the memorial park project and is scheduled to be shut down within three years.
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