A 27-year-old inmate was arrested in New Taipei City on Tuesday after failing to return to prison in Hualien County following an approved temporary release, in the third such incident in a year.
Lu Tsung-lung (魯宗龍) was arrested by the Railway Police Bureau’s criminal investigation unit at about 5pm in an Internet cafe in New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止), the bureau said.
Lu was given permission to leave the prison to see his family in Kinmen County on Saturday last week, but had to return by 8pm on Monday, Zihciang Minimum-Security Prison deputy warden Chen Chang-mu (陳長木) said.
Photo courtesy of Criminal Investigation Bureau
Although Lu’s return was postponed because his return flight was delayed, he should have taken a train to Hualien after arriving in Taipei, Chen said.
The prison contacted Lu’s family, but they said they did not know his whereabouts, and after informing the Hualien County District Prosecutors’ Office that Lu had exceeded the limit of his temporary release, it issued a warrant for his arrest, Chen said.
After reviewing footage from more than 100 security cameras in Taipei and Hualien, investigators spotted him at the airport, and then buying a train ticket at Taipei’s Nangang Station (南港). He was later seen getting off a train in Sijhih.
Lu was sentenced by the Fuchien Kinmen District Court to two years, eight months in prison for charges related to fraud and theft. He was transferred to the Hualien prison on Aug. 30, 2021.
Lu has been granted temporary release five times and had less than one year of his sentence remaining before this week’s incident, Chen said, adding that Lu had applied to be released on parole in November last year, but was denied.
The incident is the third in the past 12 months of an inmate absconding while on temporary leave from the Zihciang Minimum-Security Prison.
Kang Yu-hao (康育豪), who was granted temporary leave in March last year, remains missing, authorities said.
He allegedly slashed a person with a knife in July last year.
Twenty-nine year-old Hsu Ya-lun (許亞倫) was arrested on Aug. 28 last year, six days after he failed to report back to the prison.
The frequency of inmates on temporary release failing to return has sparked concern over loopholes in the Statute of Open Prisons (外役監條例).
The Ministry of Justice on Tuesday evening said that the statute should be amended and requested that correctional institutions do a better job of vetting applicants before release.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS