The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) yesterday called for the immediate passage of a bill to make it harder for prisoners to be transferred to minimum-security facilities amid controversy over a recent case that critics said was treated too leniently.
The ministry said in a statement that the Agency of Corrections last year proposed an amendment to the Statute of Open Prisons (外役監條例), which was approved by the Executive Yuan on Sept. 22 last year and the bill is now pending legislative approval to tighten the rules governing transfers to minimum-security prisons.
The ministry said it would continue to negotiate with all legislative caucuses in the hope that the proposal would be passed as soon as possible.
Photo: CNA
Controversy over the current act erupted after a murder convict surnamed Yi (易) was in March last year transferred to a minimum-security facility.
Yi was in June 2019 sentenced to nine years in prison for killing a police officer in a nightclub in September 2014. In January last year, he applied for a transfer to a minimum-security facility, which was approved by more than half of a committee of experts.
Yi’s case sparked an outcry among grassroots police officers, who said that the show of leniency was not fair to the slain officer.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) founder Terry Gou (郭台銘), whose father was a police officer, criticized the move, saying on Facebook on Sunday that the officer died in vain, as the government has done nothing to protect the police, and the public should be angry.
Gou is widely believed to be preparing for a presidential run, although he lost the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential primary to New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) earlier this year.
Hou also said the government has failed to show it cared about the public’s feelings about the case.
Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the presidential nominee of the Democratic Progressive Party, said that convicts who received heavy penalties for the crimes they committed should fully serve their terms and not seek any easing of their punishment.
The ministry said it understands the public’s wish to amend the law and proposed the amendment to build a better social safety net.
The draft bill would tighten the eligibility rules for transfer to a minimum-security prison, excluding those convicted of major crimes such as murder.
Other disqualifying offenses would include people sentenced to at least 10 years in prison or convicted of jailbreaking, robbery, aggravated fraud, kidnapping and seriously harming an on-duty public officer, the draft bill says.
It also stipulates that prisoners in minimum-security prisons who fail to return on time after being granted temporary leave would be moved back to a higher-security facility.
Under the current law, prisoners are eligible to be vetted for transfer to a minimum-security prison if they are not convicted of sexual assault, drug-related crimes or prison breaks.
The ministry said it held a public hearing about the proposed amendment in December last year, while the Legislative Yuan’s Judicial and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee held two review sessions in October and December last year, but the amendment has yet to be approved.
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