Agency of Corrections Director Wu Hsien-chang (吳憲璋) yesterday tendered his resignation, saying he wanted to take responsibility for the recent corruption scandal in the nation’s prison system, in which a number of wardens and officials have been detained for questioning on suspicion of receiving bribes in exchange for granting special privileges to inmates.
“The corruption scandal has seriously damaged the Ministry of Justice’s public image. It is difficult to absolve oneself of the blame,” Wu said.
As director of the agency, which is part of the Ministry of Justice, Wu is in charge of the nation’s prison system, wardens and prison officers, and the management of correctional facilities.
However, his resignation was later yesterday rejected by Minister of Justice Luo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪), who said the ministry’s priority is to improve discipline in the corrections system and that she had asked Wu to stay in the job to carry out the needed reforms.
Luo then instructed Wu to convene all wardens and head officials of correctional facilities for a meeting on Wednesday next week, which the justice minister will personally preside over.
The prison corruption scandal sparked raids and seizure of evidence by prosecutors and investigation units at 39 locations on Wednesday, including Taipei Prison, Taichung Prison and Green Island Prison, resulting in 19 suspects being taken into custody for questioning.
After questioning the suspects, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday detained six suspects, who were being held incommunicado to guard against collusion and destruction of evidence as the judicial probe widened.
The six suspects detained yesterday were Green Island Prison warden Su Ching-chun (蘇清俊), who was a former Taipei Prison deputy warden, Taichung Prison deputy warden Chao Chung-chih (趙崇智), Taipei Prison management section director Chou Ping-jung (周秉榮), his subordinate, Chang Wen-fa (張文發), and alleged gang leader Chi Jung-lin (池泳霖), who allegedly admitted to giving bribes to prison officials.
Also detained was Hu Hsiao-ching (胡曉菁), personal secretary to Gary Wang (王令麟), former chairman of Eastern Multimedia Group, who is serving a prison term at Taipei Prison which started in November last year.
Wang and other well-connected inmates allegedly arranged through family members and associates to disburse cash, vouchers for top hotels and other gifts to wardens and senior officers in exchange for contraband items, extra visiting privileges and other special allowances.
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