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Chen Shui-bianˇ¦s punishment cell at
Taipei Prison
January 4, 2013 By: Michael Richardson
http://www.examiner.com/article/chen-shui-bian-s-punishment-cell-at-taipei-prison
Taiwan Political Prisoner Report, January
4, 2013. Former ROC President Chen Shui-bianˇ¦s conditions of imprisonment, which
broke his health and spirit, are indicative of Chenˇ¦s status as a political
prisoner. The Republic of China in-exile has a
penal system haunted by ghosts from decades of martial law when ideas of
Taiwanese independence were punished by prison sentences.
Chen is now being held in a locked psychiatric cell at a government hospital in
Taipei while he recovers from a list of medical and psychological problems
incurred during his imprisonment.
Chen Shui-bian was held twenty-three hours per day in a tiny punishment cell,
six feet by nine feet, with another prisoner at Taipei Prison. No flush toilet,
no bed, no chair, no table. Chen was forced to live on the floor under 24-hour
fluorescent lighting with a closed circuit television monitor aimed at the
no-flush toilet.
Ironically, Chen was held in the same cellblock used for political prisoners
during the martial law period. Little has changed in the cramped, primitive
cells since the days of dictatorship except that the gray cement walls have now
been wihitewashed with a bright white. One other difference is that the martial
law prisoners had greater freedom of movement outside their cells than Chen has
experienced.
Chen had about ten minutes of running water per day to rinse out the toilet and
then shower in the toilet tub. His cell was often damp and became infested with
ants on at least one occasion.
Chen and the other inmate were issued thin bedrolls to lay on when they slept.
The other inmate was designated cell captain and allowed the longer of the floor
space. Chen was forced to sleep on the floor with his head against the no-flush
toilet, light brightly shining down from the ceiling.
The Taiwan Justice Rescue Force made a metal replica of Chenˇ¦s prison cell using
bars instead of solid walls for the sides. The small cage was on display outside
the Presidential Office at the temporary Democracy Camp on International Human
Rights Day. Inside the replica cell, a calendar marked off the days of Chenˇ¦s
close confinement counting out 1,480 days in jail.
The Washington, D.C. based
Human Rights Action Center sent a team to visit Chen and review his prison
conditions: ˇ§Chen Shui-bian's conditions of his four-year detention have
contributed to both the worsening of pre-existing medical conditions and the
creation of new medical needs. Simply put, Mr. Chen was treated badly in the
prison system of Taiwan. How bad was it? The smallish cell did not allow him to
stretch out while sleeping; he was confined in this cell over 23 hours a day; no
bed, not desk, and no chair; a bright fluorescent light was on 24 hours a day so
that a monitor could watch his every move even when he used the no-flush toilet
hole.ˇ¨
Chen Shui-bianˇ¦s medical complaints were long ignored, Chen was administered a
psychiatric medication without his consent by prison doctors, and on orders from
the prison warden Chen was forced-fed water by his ˇ§cell captainˇ¨ when he was
suspected of faking urinary blockage, one of Chenˇ¦s untreated conditions.
Despite the 24-hour bright lights, Chen was denied a clock or watch further
upsetting his day-night equilibrium. Chen was denied the opportunity to work in
the prison factory and get out of his tiny cell or mingle with other prisoners.
Chenˇ¦s food was slipped through a small slot in the wall by the floor in plastic
trays and he had to eat his meals on the floor where he lived and slept.
Chen Shui-bian has summed up his prison experience in one short sentence, ˇ§I
have been treated cruelly.ˇ¨
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