The Control Yuan yesterday censured two employees at a juvenile correctional facility in Taoyuan over bullying and fights at the center.
Control Yuan members Yeh ta-hua (葉大華) and Wang Mei-yu (王美玉) said they launched an investigation at the Taoyuan branch of Cheng Jheng High School after receiving an anonymous tip-off that there had been 18 incidents of brawls and bullying since the second half of last year.
The branch, which is an Agency of Corrections’ facility, has higher incident rates than other centers, they said, adding that in one incident, 12 people ganged up on one person, indicating that the facility is out of control.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The branch dean Chiu Liang-yi (邱量一) and staff member Lin Wen-chih (林文志) are unsuitable to remain in their positions, the Control Yuan said.
On two unannounced visits, Yeh and Wang said they found that facility staff had appointed students to act in roles of authority, allowing them to publicly shame students, force them to copy Buddhist scriptures and forbid them from sleeping, among other acts.
The facility had done nothing to prevent the formation of gangs, and the staff’s handling of incidents in which violence occurred had negatively affected students at the center, giving them an incorrect understanding of how to follow laws, Yeh and Wang said.
They also found that certain student “leaders” targeted people who receive financial assistance from their families and forced them into gambling debts as high as NT$100,000, they said.
That Chiu and Lin were aware of this and have not reported the incidents to the Agency of Corrections, social welfare units or the individual’s families demonstrates that they are unsuitable for their positions, Yeh and Wang said.
Chiu and Lin should be immediately reassigned and the Ministry of Justice should find a more suitable dean for the facility, the Control Yuan said.
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