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Prison harming Chen:
experts
STRESSED OUT: Although they were unable to make
a full physical examination, US medical experts said they could tell that Chen
Shui-bian is suffering from stress
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
The conditions of former president Chen Shui-bian¡¦s (³¯¤ô«ó) confinement in prison
are ¡§unacceptable¡¨ and have affected his physical as well as mental health,
US-based medical experts said yesterday.
Ken Yoneda and Charles Whitcomb, professors at the University of California at
Davis, and Joseph Lin, who sits on the board of trustees at the UC Davis
Foundation, told the Taipei Times that Chen¡¦s health and the conditions of his
confinement were ¡§disturbing¡¨ and an issue of human rights and humanitarianism.
The three professors visited Chen, who is serving a 17-and-a-half-year prison
term for corruption, at Taipei Prison on Monday and spent about an hour with
him.
¡§We are very concerned about his health. We feel that the conditions of his
confinement are affecting his health, physical and emotional, and that the
living conditions of his prison cell are very severe,¡¨ said Yoneda, a professor
of clinical internal medicine.
Chen¡¦s treatment is worse than an average inmate¡¦s, not because he is a former
president, but because he is allowed to spend time out of his cell for only an
hour per day, which leaves him with almost no interaction with other
individuals, he added.
While they could not examine Chen with any medical instrument, Yoneda said that,
as trained physicians, they could observe Chen¡¦s condition by watching the way
he moves, walks and talks, and by shaking hands with him.
What they saw did not give them grounds for optimism, despite their opinion that
two hospitals ¡X Taoyuan Hospital and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital ¡X had done an
excellent job of examining Chen.
Chen¡¦s drop in living standards, which he described during their meeting as
¡§falling from heaven to hell,¡¨ along with the confinement has had a great effect
on Chen¡¦s psyche and emotions, and it could possibly eventually affect his
mental health, he said.
Chen said he would prefer to have National Taiwan University Hospital re-examine
his health because of his familiarity with the institution, Yoneda said.
¡§The former president feels that his life is in jeopardy, and he¡¦s worried about
himself and his family. He feels that he cannot do normal things ¡X even walking
at a normal pace or greater than a normal pace ¡X that he used to be able to do,¡¨
Yoneda said.
Yoneda and Whitcomb, a professor of cardiovascular medicine, said they feared it
would be difficult to ¡§reverse Chen¡¦s condition¡¨ even if his prison conditions
were improved, adding that if the conditions were not corrected, Chen could
possibly develop anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Lin, a Taiwanese-American, said the trip between Sunday and today had been
arranged because the Taiwanese-American community was paying close attention to
the issue and because US Representative Dan Lungren had called on the Tom Lantos
Human Rights Commission to investigate Chen¡¦s imprisonment.
The professors stressed the impartiality of their visit as private citizens and
that the trip was not affiliated with any political party in Taiwan. They also
expressed their appreciation that the Taiwanese government made the visit
possible.
They intend to submit an unbiased report to the Tom Lantos Commission via
congressional connections or to the House¡¦s Taiwan Caucus, they said.
Lin asked the US government to show compassion by paying more attention to
Chen¡¦s conditions and ¡§to do something that is right and to continue to be a
beacon for human rights¡¨ as it has always taken pride in doing.
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