Public prosecutors yesterday announced they would not indict former Kaohsiung Prison head warden Chen Shih-chih (陳世志) and former deputy warden Lai Cheng-jung (賴政榮), saying there was no evidence they were involved in the attempted jailbreak and hostage-taking by six inmates in February.
In the statement, the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office also said it would not indict the six inmates, who overpowered security guards and officials to seize firearms and took hostages during the 14-hour standoff on Feb. 11 and Feb. 12, since the six had died during the incident, allegedly by committing suicide by shooting themselves in the head.
Prosecutors investigated speculation that top prison officials might have colluded by providing inside help to the six inmates, who were headed by Cheng Li-te (鄭立德), the alleged leader of a Kaohsiung chapter of the Bamboo Union (竹聯幫) gang, who was serving a 28-and-a-half-year sentence for murder and other crimes.
The probe focused on Chen and Lai, since the two were taken hostage and later acquiesced to the convicts’ demands by ordering subordinates to dispatch two police cruisers to the facility as getaway cars.
The prosecutors’ statement said Chen and Lai “were physically confined as hostages and under threat by Cheng and rest of his gang, who were carrying firearms ... and under the violent threats and dangerous conditions, they were forced to call to arrange for the police cruisers.”
“Under such circumstances, it was difficult to adjudicate whether the two officials had violated the law, in dereliction of their official duties, by providing aid or allowing incarcerated inmates to escape,” the statement said.
The decision not to prosecute also rested on the probe’s conclusion that no unusual financial transactions were found in bank accounts belonging to Chen and Lai, and there were no transfers of money from other prison officials, the hostage-taking inmates or their families and relatives.
Records from 84 bank accounts from 55 banks and financial institutions were investigated, the statement said.
However, the prosecutors said there was negligence by Chen and Lai, especially concerning their lax management of the prison’s armory and the ease with which the inmates were able to seize firearms.
Both officials were disciplined by Ministry of Justice’s Agency of Corrections. They were both demoted, removed from their posts and given major demerits.
The statement said that since prosecutors have examined the evidence and witness’ testimonies and determined the inmates had committed suicide, they would not be indicted.
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