The Ministry of Justice yesterday said that the attempted jailbreak by six Kaohsiung Prison inmates on Wednesday would not affect former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) medical parole.
“The incident and Chen’s medical parole are two separate cases and the former will not have any impact on the latter,” Vice Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang (陳明堂) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday morning.
Chen Ming-tang was referring to the first of five appeals listed in a handwritten statement by Cheng Li-te (鄭立德), the purported ringleader of the six, who questioned the legitimacy of the former president being granted medical parole.
“If Chen Shui-bian was able to secure his release on medical parole by faking illness, how come other convicts with a lot more serious conditions are never granted the same treatment? Why? Is it because we are criminals and deserve to rot in jail? What about A-bian [Chen Shui-bian]? Is he not also a criminal?” Agency of Corrections Director Wu Shyan-chang (吳憲璋) said as he read from the statement in front of the prison on Wednesday night.
“As a former head of state and an experienced attorney, does A-bian know the law?” Wu read. “He deliberately broke the law, but how come he get to be hailed by [some of] you as a prisoner of conscious? If A-bian gets to be given medical parole, the same standards should be applied to everyone. Are we not all equal before the law?”
Chen Ming-tang said the agency pledged to apply the same evaluation standards to all applicants for medical parole when the ministry established a 15-member medical team to evaluate the former president’s latest request for medical parole in December last year.
“Every inmate is subjected to the same procedures and criteria in being considered for medical parole,” he added.
Ex-Convict Service Center director Tung Nien-tai (董念台) held a protest in front of the ministry before the former president was released in December, threatening to instigate prisoners to stage riots if the government granted A-bian’s release.
Chen Shui-bian’s son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), yesterday berated Cheng Li-te on Facebook for using his ailing father to justify violence.
“President Chen has been examined by the Taipei Veterans General Hospital and the Taichung Veterans General Hospital, which are public medical institutions, and both recommended medical parole,” Chen Chih-chung said. “The ministry’s 15-member medical team also unanimously concurred with those professional opinions.”
“The decision was clearly not made based on who my father is or used to be, but rather on doctors’ professional opinions and credibility,” he added.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said the ministry announced six requirements for medical parole on Jan. 5 and that whoever meets the criteria is entitled to submit an application.
“However, not every qualified inmate will apply for medical parole, because they will have to shoulder their medical expenses during the parole period that would otherwise be paid by the prison if they are inside,” Ma said.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) repeated a call for clear guidelines to be established for the conditions under which prisoners are temporarily released to receive medical treatment.
“It is important that Taiwan establishes a clear standard,” Ko said. “Otherwise there will inevitably be complaints because of the excessive discretion in the hands of the governing authorities.”
Ko added that as the former convener of Chen Shui-bian’s medical team, he knew that he did require medical treatment.
Additional reporting by Abraham Gerber
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