A group of convicted drunk drivers on Wednesday cleaned a morgue and an autopsy room in Taitung as part of a mandated community service program.
Launched by the Taitung District Prosecutors’ Office, the program aims to deter recidivism by requiring convicts with a history of drunk driving to perform janitorial duties at morgues in exchange for commuted prison sentences.
Ten convicts cleaned the morgue in front of reporters who were invited to the event marking the program’s launch.
Drunk driving comprised 91.5 percent of all public endangerment convictions in Taitung, the most prevalent crime in the area under the office’s jurisdiction, the office said in a statement.
“It is hoped that the method would instill — via shock — the rule that ‘no drivers should drink and no drinkers should drive’ into people’s minds and help them internalize it into their lives and behavior,” a press release quoted Taitung Chief Prosecutor Wang Wen-te (王文德) as saying.
The purpose of the program is to help convicts realize that being caught driving drunk might have been a stroke of good luck that saved them from an untimely death, Wang said.
When asked for comment, Taitung Prosecutor Wu Wei-jen (吳維仁) said the convicts who cleaned the morgue on Wednesday were those who had three or less convictions of drunk driving, as offenders with four convictions or more are not allowed to commute their sentences to fines or community service.
A convict, identified as A-Sian (阿憲), said he was terrified by the experience and promised he would never ride a scooter or drive a car under the influence of alcohol again, the press release said.
However, a convict interviewed by reporters said: “I have no feelings about it.”
“It was a group of men in a room and they did not see the cadavers. The district prosecutors’ office has been making drunk drivers clean morgues during the Tomb Sweeping Festival every year. It is another form of compulsory labor, nothing special,” said a volunteer morgue cleaner, surnamed Chen (陳).
The psychological shock that might result from working around dead bodies at a morgue is a matter that should be handled delicately, New Taipei City’s Mortuary Services Office superintendent Yang Yi-lin (楊薏霖) said.
Re-educating drunk drivers through compulsory service at morgues might lead to problems, such as intrusions on the dignity of the deceased and the privacy of grieving families, as well as technical issues regarding sanitation, public safety and hygiene, Yang said.
Convicts already perform janitorial duties at less sensitive zones of morgues, such as common areas and waiting rooms, Yang added.
Additional reporting by Chen Hsien-yi
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