Fugitives from foreign prisons kill police in cold blood! Declassify Taiwan's foreign service prison without a high wall

Source: Taiwan Straits Network

◆ The murderer of the two policemen, Lin Xinwu, is a fugitive from The Mingde Foreign Service Prison in Tainan, pictured as a panoramic view of the prison (Taiwan media photo)

Taiwan Straits Herald reporter Lin Lianjin, August 25 (Taiwan Straits Herald reporter Lin Lianjin) After Lin Xinwu, the murderer of two policemen in Tainan, was arrested, he was detained by the Tainan District Court on the 24th. The identity of his prison fugitive and the Tainan Mingde Foreign Service Prison where he is serving his sentence have attracted attention from the outside world as they have been exposed.

What is a foreign service prison, what is the difference between it and ordinary prisons, why Lin Xinwu will serve his sentence in Tainan Matilda Foreign Service Prison, and how he escaped later, these have become hot topics of discussion.

A foreign prison without high walls

Selection has "three criteria" and "five inaccuracies"

Lin Xinwu, who killed the police in cold blood, was previously imprisoned in August 2020 for robbery. In December 2021, he was "selected" to serve his sentence at Tainan Matilda Foreign Service Prison, during which he performed well and was allowed to return home for the first time in March this year, when he returned to prison as scheduled. On August 13, the second home visit, which was supposed to be returned to prison at 2 p.m. on the 15th, was overdue, escaped for a week, and finally committed a heinous atrocity.

Jiang Deputy Prison Director of Tainan Mingde Foreign Service Prison said that Lin Xinwu's relevant regulations on leave in accordance with the foreign service prison belong to "level 3", and according to the regulations, he can take leave to return home to visit his relatives, his performance in prison is normal, and the counseling and assessment also meet the application conditions. During the second home visit, the prison authorities had a telephone spot check on the 14th, and Lin Xinwu answered the phone, and also said that he would return to prison according to the regulations, but in the end he did not return to prison on time.

In other words, the inmate must comply with the relevant regulations to be "selected" to the foreign service prison, and must also comply with the regulations before returning home to visit.

The so-called foreign service prison refers to a relatively open, low-level guard management type of prison, less surrounded by a towering wall, will not limit the inmate to indoors all day, and the degree of oppression of the inmates is less. "Foreign service" means that the inmate is allowed to work outdoors without handcuffs and shackles, and serve the sentence in another way.

In addition, unlike ordinary prisoners, they can return home to visit their relatives in foreign prisons, and the number of visits to relatives varies according to the different sentences and different levels of progressive treatment, most of which range from once a month to once a month and once every 3 months. Family members can also visit, and there are even special rooms where family members share with the inmates.

The purpose of establishing foreign service prisons is to allow inmates with long sentences to have a transitional adaptation period through low-level rehabilitation management and intermediate punishment measures, so as to get used to self-management and cultivate self-discipline capabilities in order to facilitate the return to society.

So, what kind of inmates are eligible to enter the foreign prison.

It is understood that corrections officials "select" inmates who can serve sentences in foreign prisons according to the regulations: "those who have evidence of repentance and are physically and mentally healthy", "those who serve fixed-term imprisonment for more than two months", and "those who encounter a certain score in progressive places"; However, if it is a drug, domestic violence, sexual assault, or repeat offender, it is not possible to go to a foreign prison, and it is even more unlikely that a prisoner who escapes the crime will apply. According to reports, Lin Xinwu was "selected" to serve his sentence in an external prison because he met the second criterion and performed well in prison.

There is a golf course like a resort

Prisoners are paid and have two days off a week

At present, the "Corrections Department" of Taiwan's legal department has a total of three independent foreign service prisons, namely Hualien Self-Improvement Foreign Service Prison, Tainan Mingde Foreign Service Prison, and Taoyuan Bade Foreign Service Prison, as well as an external service prison attached to the prison.

According to Taiwan media reports, Hualien Self-Improvement Foreign Service Prison has been described as a "utopia" in the prison community, with a quiet surrounding environment, providing poultry and bees such as cattle, pigs and ducks, as well as a happy farm that grows and eats itself.

In the Tainan Mingde Foreign Service Prison where Lin Xinwu, who killed the police, was serving his sentence, Li Zhenghao, a candidate for the Zhonghe District Council of New Taipei City without party membership, exposed the appearance of the Mingde Foreign Service Prison in a political discussion program on the 23rd, in addition to the courtyard building, there are also the landscaping of small bridges and flowing water, basketball courts, golf courses, amusement parks, and tea making areas. Li Zhenghao said bluntly: "This is called a resort, not a foreign prison." Li Zhenghao also showed the one-week menu of inmates in Mingde Foreign Service Prison, including spicy fried chicken cubes, curry chicken bibimbap, Korean-style kimchi bibimbap, and three dishes and a soup every day, "eating better than outside", many prisoners called the foreign prison "health village". According to the official website of The Corrections Department of Taiwan's legal department, Mingde Foreign Service Prison, a prisoner has a monthly meal fee of NT$1,800, and the KTV room of Mingde Hall is for the prisoner to sing after work.

According to reports, inmates have "jobs" in foreign prisons and can also receive salaries. In Tainan Matilda Foreign Service Prison, the inmates are mainly farmers; Taoyuan Bade Foreign Service Prison has expensive orchid breeding work, etc., and also sends inmates to work in neighboring processing plants; The main work of hualien self-improvement foreign service prison is to grow organic crops, as well as marble and rose stone related stone carving work. Prisoners do not have to work for two days on weekends, but must stay in locked houses.

The environment and treatment of foreign service prisons are good, which is much more "free" than ordinary prisons, and has also become the "first choice" for political and business celebrities on the island to go to prison. According to statistics, the proportion of prisoners involved in the regulations on the punishment of corruption in Taiwan's foreign service prisons has reached a maximum of 23.6 percent.

Returning home to visit relatives and become "returning to the mountains"

The People's Representative called for a renewed review of the foreign prison system

The original intention of setting up a foreign service prison is to help the prisoners adapt to society as soon as possible after they are released from prison, and also to let the prisoners with good performance go unsupervised to visit their relatives and feel free again.

In 2020, Taiwan's supervision agency issued an investigation report saying that in the past 10 years, 8 people have escaped from general prisons, but as many as 39 people have escaped from foreign service prisons, and 12 escape incidents have occurred within two years, and the frequency has increased significantly, which can easily cause public panic and public security concerns. Huang Juntang, Taiwan's "corrections director," said on the 23rd that 4 people have escaped from foreign service prisons in the past 10 years, 45 people have not been returned within the time limit, and 2 people have not yet been arrested. According to statistics, up to 90% of the prisoners took advantage of the return to their homes to visit their relatives and fled. This time, Lin Xinwu also fled during the return to visit his family and committed a brutality of killing police, causing public anger and panic. The whole of Taiwan was shocked by the double police murder case in Tainan, and the people were worried that the fugitives from the foreign service prisons would create social strife, and many people questioned why the foreign service prisons had become murderous and whether there were some omissions in the "selection" of the inmates and the management system, which contributed to the occurrence of this tragedy.

According to public information from Taiwan's legal department, by the end of July, there were 77,000 people in prison in Taiwan, and a total of 11,323 people were sent to foreign prisons in the past 10 years. Some public opinion on the island has questioned that the "Corrections Bureau" is only trying to alleviate the pressure on overcrowded prisons, and try to relax the inmates to serve sentences in foreign prisons, which poses potential risks and puts the safety of the people in danger. The blue-green "legislators" also believe that the foreign prison system should be re-examined. Cai Qingxiang, head of Taiwan's legal affairs department, said that the "Corrections Department" has been ordered to review and "amend" the selection mechanism for prisoners in foreign service prisons, and to "amend the law" to strictly select and implement examination and control, so as to raise the threshold for the selection of major offenders, including listing major murderers who kill police and other law enforcement personnel as non-selectable to serve their sentences in foreign prisons.