王吉娜實習日誌11: 台北看守所

台北看守所

    今天上午，我們隨同邵先生前往台北看守所，探望一名已被判死刑長達37年的囚犯－邱和順。他於1988年被指控夥同他人綁架並殺害一名男童，以及殺害另一名女性。儘管他被判死刑，但後來發現，他和同案被告均是在遭受酷刑逼供的情況下認罪的；此外，他們的供詞與證人證言不符，且邱和順在被指控的兩起案件中均有明確的不在場證明。他的案件歷經11次重審，儘管台灣最高法院於2011年維持死刑判決，但各人權團體持續呼籲將其釋放；該案目前已成為台灣歷史上審理時間最長的刑事案件。

    我們在看守所僅有20分鐘的會面時間，但不幸的是，我那天忘了帶護照，因此無法與他見面。不過，我們了解到看守所對在押人員實行分級管理，這決定了誰可以探視以及探視的頻率。邱和順每週僅獲準接受一次探視，且探視者必須在獲準名單內，每次僅限一人。當邵先生與他交談時，邱和順提到幾週前有人幫他加購了食品，但看守所並未將部分物品交給他。經了解，原來是因為部分商品停產、售罄或供應商不再供貨，邵先生隨後嘗試購買替代品，但也遇到了同樣的問題。此外，邱和順似乎正飽受病痛折磨；他告訴我們，雖然近期已扣除了醫療費用，但他至今仍未收到任何收據，這讓他感到十分無奈與沮喪。

Taipei’s Detention Center

    This morning we went with Mr. Hsiao to the Taipei Detention Center, to visit a man sentenced to death row 37 years ago. His name is Chiou Ho-shun, and in 1988 he was accused of leading a group to kidnap and murder a young boy and kill another woman. He was given the death sentence, but it was later revealed that he and the others who were sentenced for this case were tortured to confess, and their confessions did not match witness reports, and Mr. Chiou had clear alibis in both of the cases he was accused of. His case has been retrialled 11 times, and in 2011 the Taiwanese Supreme Court had sentenced him to death row, but other human rights groups have continued to advocate for his release, and his case is now the longest running criminal trial in Taiwan’s history. 

    We only had 20 minutes to meet him in the detention center, but sadly I had forgotten my passport that day. I wasn’t able to meet him, but we learned that detainees will have different tiers, which will determine who can visit them and how frequently. Mr. Chiou was only allowed one visit a week, and this could only be from one person on a list of who was allowed to see him. When Mr. Hsiao spoke to him, Mr.Chiou said that someone had helped buy him more food a few weeks ago, but the detention center had not given him some items. It turns out that some products had been discontinued, sold out, or the suppliers were no longer available, and so Mr. Hsiao helped buy similar items, but he encountered a similar issue. Mr. Chiou also seems to be suffering from a lot of pain, and he told us that recently there were deductions to medical expenses, but he still hadn’t received any of his receipts yet, which was frustrating.