Since stepping down as premier four years ago, Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) may have abandoned the limelight of politics, but he has ended up working even harder, after deciding what he wanted to do with the rest of his life — serve as a prison volunteer.
Chang was appointed premier during the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and served from October 2000 to February 2002, but renounced all the perks afforded an ex-premier, including a security escort and a chauffeur-driven car, when he left office for a second time in May 2008, after the DPP was voted out of power.
He now relies on public transportation, taxis or friends to get around.
“My life is simple, but I have some transcendental ideals and I’ll serve as a volunteer in the limited time I have left,” the 73-year-old said.
As a devout Christian and a volunteer with the group Christian Born Anew Fellowship, he visits prisons to talk with death row inmates and drug traffickers or offers encouragement to adolescents in young offenders institutions.
Chang said that when he began touring prisons and speaking to inmates on death row, he set five goals for them. He asked them to reflect upon themselves, repent and accept religious faith; to humbly apologize to the families of their victims; and to donate their organs as their last contribution to the world.
“I also ask them to tell me their last wish and see if I can do anything to make it happen, and I try to find out the factors that resulted in them ending up on death row,” he said.
Chang said he once met a 41-year-old inmate on death row who was abused by his violent stepfather when he was young and ran away from home.
He was sent to jail repeatedly for stealing to satisfy his hunger.
After shuttling in and out of prison for three decades, he finally committed murder and was sentenced to death.
“Each case makes my heart ache,” Chang said.
He realizes that many people think that “all those in prison deserve to die,” but from another perspective, if prison education is ignored, then a nine-year-old boy who stole out of hunger can turn into a murderer after three decades.
Chang said the number of inmates in Taiwan was about 20,000 two decades ago, but it has ballooned to more than 60,000, making it nearly impossible for penitentiaries to effectively educate inmates, because there are 400 convicts for every counselor.
“How can you expect to help an inmate if you can’t even remember his name?” Chang asked.
As a volunteer, he said he has delivered speeches calling on society to put a priority on prison education and the value of the family.
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