The government seems determined to close two prisons on Green Island despite protests from the island's residents.
Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
It was the ministry's goal to turn the island from "an island of the devils" to "an island in paradise," he said.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
However, residents do not seem to appreciate the ministry's moves to reform the island's image and have been petitioning the government since January to leave open what they see as defining images of Green Island.
On June 10, Chen led a team of more than 30 reporters to visit Green Island before the prisons are officially closed.
At Taitung Airport, Green Island Township Chief Chen Chia-wen (
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
"The prison and the vocational training institute have been the symbols of the island for decades," he said. "In addition, half of the staff at these two correction facilities are local residents. Once these two prisons are closed, they will have to either move to Taiwan for their new posts or lose their government jobs for good. It is not really fair for these people."
The justice minister defended the plan, telling the township chief that it was a well-organized policy and the ministry was actually helping Green Island residents establish a tourism industry.
"The Tourism Bureau (觀光局) will take over the facilities of the prison and the vocational training institute and turn them into sightseeing attractions," he said. "I believe that they [the Tourism Bureau] will have a good plan for this when the time comes," the minister said.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Green Island Vocational Training Institute Director Lee Chi-tai (
"According to a direct order from the ministry, we finished moving the inmates on May 30," Lee said. "They were relocated to other institutes or prisons in Taitung County. Currently, we don't have any inmates in our custody. However, the staff will stay working here until they are transferred to other offices by the ministry."
Before it became a prison, the institute's facilities belonged to the Taiwan Garrison Command (
The military used the facilities to detain those who were listed on the national hoodlums registry. In 1991, the facilities were transferred to the control of the Ministry of Justice, which decided to establish the institute there in 1993.
The ministry began a three-year renovation project in 1994 to turn the facility into a rehabilitation center that equipped prisoners with technical skills to prepare them for life on the outside.
The institute, designed to house 389 inmates and 94 staff, held 277 inmates before the transfer of inmates began. More than 80 percent of the inmates were convicted thieves. The institute trained the inmates to do laundry, plant vegetables and fix motor scooters.
"On Green Island," Lee said, "we depend on Taiwan for almost every aspect of our lives. However, by training these inmates to contribute, it saved a lot of money and time."
"For example, scooters are the major form of transportation that most local residents use every day," Lee said. "However, there are no scooter or car dealerships on the island. If the scooter breaks down, the only way to fix it is to send it back to Taiwan for repair. Many of our inmates knew how to fix scooters and we could take the advantage of that."
Green Island Prison, built for 362 inmates, now houses 134.
Warden Dai Shou-nan (
"Unlike other prisons in Taiwan, inmates here are criminals who have created lots of trouble at other prisons," Dai said.
"Our goal is to put them through a rigorous correction program for rehabilitation," he said.
But not for much longer.
"We are planning to relocate our inmates to other prisons in Taitung and officially close the office at the end of this year," Dai said.
The 48-year-old warden is also a judo expert and once had a run-in with Chen Chin-hsing (陳進興), the infamous murderer of TV entertainer Pai Ping-ping's (白冰冰) 17-year-old daughter Pai Hsiao-yen (白曉燕), while Dai worked at the Penghu Prison in 1980 and Chen was incarcerated there.
One day, Dai explained, Chen attacked a guard at the prison; Dai stepped in to calm the situation down, but was also attacked by Chen.
"I threw him against the wall without a second thought," Dai said. "I just wanted to protect myself and my colleagues. Maybe I should have done some more to Chen and then there wouldn't have been Pai's murder 17 years later."
Established in 1970, the prison has 170 one-man cells and 48 four-man cells. When the Taipei Times visited the prison, it was about 35。C outside but between 40。C and 45。C inside the cells.
Inmates must do everything -- eating, sleeping and showering -- inside their cells, which all have toilets. In winter, the prison provides hot water for a bath twice a week.
As well as teaching the inmates skills they will find useful when they complete their sentences, the Green Island prisons also train their inmates in the art of "sand painting."
Using a wooden board as a canvas, the inmates first sketch their painting and then dye fine sand to the colors they need. The painter then puts glue on the sketch outline on the board and carefully drops the dyed sand onto it.
"It takes a lot of patience and time to finish a sand painting," Dai said. "We trained the inmates to do this to cultivate their minds. Other than our correction work with them, the sand paintings they produced became a special art work made on Green Island."
Other than the prison and the institute, there was also a special prison next to the vocational training institute which was used to detain prisoners of conscience or political prisoners.
Alumni of that prison include Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), former DPP chairmen Shih Ming-teh (施明德) and Lin I-hsiung (林義雄), Council of Labor Affairs Chairwoman Chen Chu (陳菊), Senior Adviser to the President Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) and human rights activist and writer Bo Yang (柏楊).
According to Huang Cheng-nan (
Outside the political prison, the government has built a "Human Rights Park" in memory of those who were imprisoned on the island for their political activities during the martial law era.
In the park, the government set up a monument, a marble wall with the names of all the political inmates carved into it. However, the names of the more famous inmates are shinier than the others.
"That was because visitors always touch these people's names on the monument because they are famous," Dai said.
"It's just like a natural human reaction. The more you touch it, the shinier the marble will become. It's very normal," he added.
While Green Island is famed for its correctional institutes, it is the natural beauty of the island that the government is hoping will attract visitors. It is a paradise for snorkelers and scuba divers, and there is almost no pollution.
The island, located 33km west of Taitung City, is 16.2km2. Transportation to Taiwan is by air or sea. It takes about 10 minutes by plane and an hour by ship.
The first mention of Green Island -- which used to be called "Huoshao Island" (Burnt Island, 火燒島) because of its tropical weather -- in books was in 1810.
Other than the inmates, there are about 3,000 residents. There are three major villages -- Nanliao (
The villages belong to Green Island Township, Taitung County.
The main sources of income for residents are fishing and tourism, and despite the island's size, it has two elementary schools and one junior high school.
"Usually, more than 6,000 visitors from Taiwan will arrive here during the weekends," a local owner of a snorkeling-equipment shop told the Taipei Times.
"To be honest, most visitors were first attracted to Green Island by the prisons. They did bring us good fortune. However, if the prison is closed, I very much doubt we can earn the same income as we do now," the shop owner said.
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