Fri, Oct 22, 1999 page3

• Neglect leads to inmate's death

  PENAL SYSTEM Prison officials are being blamed by family members for the death of a 66-year-old man in prison last year, highlighting the inadequate health care provided to prisoners in Taiwan

  • By Irene Lin / STAFF REPORTER
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  Human rights activists have long criticized the lack of medical attention given to inmates in Taiwan's prisons, and this week a protest outside the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) has highlighted the alleged neglect.

  The protesting family of an inmate -- who died in May last year at Yunlin Prison of a sudden heart attack -- claims prison authorities withheld necessary health care and indirectly caused the death of the 66-year-old Tsai A-hsiang (1/22阿2?.

  Tsai was jailed in 1995 for four years for the death of 10 passengers in a bus crash as they were on their way to a religious activity in Chiayi County.

  Tsai's family took their grievances to the authorities and filed complaints with Yunlin Prison authorities and the MOJ. But, they claim, the authorities have not responded to their concerns, so they have been forced to protest.

  The family said Tsai had a record of various ailments such as heart disease, diabetes and kidney problems even before his incarceration.

  But despite their requests, the family claimed, authorities at the prison had refused to allow Tsai to receive medical treatment outside of the prison.

  "The prison authorities knew my father had a record of serious diseases, but they still rejected our requests for him to receive medical care outside the prison. Isn't there any liability attributable to the prison staff for my father's death?" said Chen Chin-cheng (3祖驏?, Tsai's grown-up son.

  "Meanwhile, gangster leaders are frequently given the privilege of having their illnesses treated outside prison. Why was it so difficult for my aging father to get permission?"

  Yunlin Prison officials, however, told a different story: During his 34 visits to prison doctors in the prison, they say, Tsai never told doctors of any irritation caused by the diseases they were notified about, prior to his jail term.

  What he did complain of, the prison officials said, were minor problems such as headaches, allergies or footaches.

  Officials said the prison had responded to Tsai's family last April, suggesting that there was no need for medical treatment outside the prison.

  "It is understood your father is regularly taking medicine prescribed by Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (長庚紀念醫院) and remains in a stable condition. Based on his medical records with our prison doctors, they saw no need for your father to receive medical care outside the prison," correspondence from the Yunlin Prison authorities to Tsai's family, dated one month before his death, stated.

  "We will still closely monitor his health hereafter," it added.

  It is clearly stated in prison sentence enforcement law that inmates can request medical treatment outside an institution, when they are not able to receive proper medical care in the correctional institution.

  With approval from prison doctors, inmates may be escorted by correctional staff to medical facilities outside the institutions in which they are held.

  This permission is issued by the prison authorities when doctors from the outside medical facilities confirm in writing that the inmates' illnesses are serious enough to warrant such treat-ment.

  Tsai's case, which has received attention from a number of politicians since last May, is currently being investigated by the Yunlin Prosecutors' Office.

  The Control Yuan, the island's watchdog body, that oversees the conduct of government officials, is also probing any wrongdoing by either Yunlin Prison or the MOJ.

  It may take years for the judicial authorities to determine any criminal wrongdoing by government officials or Yulin Prison authorities in the death of Tsai, ministry officials said.

  However, correctional authorities have found an urgent need to upgrade the quality of the island's prison health care system.

  Currently, there is only one doctor working full time out of a total of 89 vacancies for the post of prison doctor. The prevalent practice in most institutions is purchasing health care services from doctors of hospitals or clinics outside the institutions.

  "It all depends on whether prison wardens have any contact with medical networks outside the prisons. But it's not an avenue which could work in the long run," said Ou Wei-chi (區偉基), deputy director of the corrections department of the MOJ.

  "We've tried hard to recruit full-time doctors, but it's not a tempting job when one looks at the salary offered," he said.

  Prison doctors are paid by the government with a fixed salary of around NT$80,000 per month. Whereas doctors at public hospitals are paid an extra NT$40,000 to NT$50,000 per month.

  "Unless it's someone with the heart of Albert Schweitzer, the philanthropist, few people would choose to be a prison doctor, who has to work in a poor working environment and be paid badly," Ou said.

  "Of course the ministry wants to raise the quality of prison medical care, but we need support from a higher authority, namely the Executive Yuan," he said.

  The MOJ has proposed increasing the pay of prison doctors, but the Executive Yuan rejected the proposal, saying, "The government cannot favor prison doctors over other doctors of public medical facilities."
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