Prison officials are preventing a magazine column written by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) from going to print, his son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), said yesterday.
Greater Kaohsiung Councilor Chen Chih-chung said after visiting his father in Taipei Prison yesterday that prison officials had requested the column be revised a second time, after Chen Shui-bian complied with an earlier request.
As a result, it is unlikely that the article, for which the former president is understood to have been paid close to NT$20,000, will make it into tomorrow’s edition of Next Magazine, he said.
Friends and allies of the former president said that the unusual move put Taipei Prison officials in contravention of prison regulations and represented a step backwards for freedom of expression.
Under the Prison Act (監獄行刑法), prison officials are allowed to ask that parts of correspondence that violate prison regulations be deleted before being mailed.
Although articles written by inmates to be published in newspapers and magazines are legally protected, officials must first determine whether the subject is appropriate and ensure it does not violate “the discipline and reputation of the prison.”
Neither of these conditions apply to the 1,800-character column Chen Shui-bian wrote, his son said, as the former president already made the requested changes after being asked to do so on June 13.
“He followed the instructions given by prison officials and at first they said it would be allowed, but then it was rejected a second time. Now we have no idea when the article will be printed,” Chen Chih-chung said.
While refraining from naming specific topics covered, Chen Shui-bian’s staffers said the piece largely followed the tone of his bi-weekly statements and three books authored from his prison cell. A fourth, Twenty-five Lessons Every President Must Read, is due out soon.
“Asking prisoners to read books and write essays is the right thing to do,” said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯), a close ally of the former president. “As long as the piece doesn’t talk about his own case, or say that the prison system is unfair, there is no reason for it to be rejected.”
Speaking about Chen Shui-bian’s column, Tsai said: “It’s a setback in terms of human rights. Do prisoners really have to be ‘politically correct’ before they are allowed to write columns?”
Prison officials said that the piece was rejected a second time because it would have “political ramifications and promote social division.”
Taipei Prison administrator Su Kun-ming (蘇坤銘) said that the content of the article failed to promote “social stability” and undermined the reputation of the prison.
“We decided to reject the piece to ensure Chen Shui-bian is able to peacefully serve out his sentence,” Su told the Chinese-language Apple Daily, part of the group that publishes Next Magazine.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) said earlier that the Ministry of Justice needed to better manage correspondence coming from Chen Shui-bian in prison. The former president maintains a wide network of supporters and allies, most of who are members of the DPP.
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