Can prisoner’s families apply to move the prisoner to a prison closer to them in order to make it easier for them to visit?

In consideration of the inconvenience for family members who are too old or too young or have health condition to travel far to visit a prisoner, prisoners having any of the following circumstances can apply for transfer to another prison to make it easier for their elderly, young or ill-health families to visit:

1. A parent or the spouse of the prisoner is aged 65 or older, or any child of the prisoner is under the age of 12.
2. Any of the grandparents, parents, spouse, or children of the prisoner is a holder of major illness and injury certificate issued under the National Health Insurance or a holder of disability certificate.

Continuing the previous question, how do prisoner’s families apply for this type of prison transfer?

1. A prisoner with this type of prison transfer needs shall fill out a Prison Transfer Application Form and submit proof of household registration issued within the past month and other supporting documents (e.g. photocopy of household registry or household registration transcript that suffice to show the relationship between prisoner and family members, and place of householder registration, major illness and injury certificate from the National Health Insurance, disability manual issued by government) to the prison section or office in charge.
2. Relatives of a prisoner can also apply for prison transfer on behalf of the prisoner by submitting the aforementioned supporting documents to the designated contact of the prison. The prison will, promptly after the receipt of application documents, forward such documents to the prisoner and record the date and time when such documents are received and forwarded. The prisoner can then take steps according to the preceding paragraph.
3. To streamline government services, when the relatives of a prisoner need to submit supporting documents for prison transfer application to the designated contact of prison, they can do so by fax, via the Internet or by other appropriate means.

Continuing the previous question, is this type of prison transfer request always granted?

1. Not necessarily. A prison transfer application may be denied because the prisoner is not eligible or the designated prison that the prisoner wishes to transfer to does not meet the requirements or is unable to accommodate the prisoner.
2. When a prisoner has the aforementioned transfer needs and applies to the prison for a transfer, the prison will conduct preliminary review the prisoner’s eligibility. If the prisoner meets the following criteria, the prison will submit a list of the eligible prisoners for prison transfer, their information (name and place of origin), and other supporting documents to the Agency of Corrections for examination:
   1. The prisoner has been admitted into the current prison for more than three months or has been transferred from another prison for more than six months;
   2. The prisoner’s remaining sentence to be served is more than four months; and
   3. The prisoner does not have any parole case pending review.
3. The Agency of Corrections will examine the information provided by the prison and approve the prison transfer if it is found that the following criteria are met:
   1. The prisoner meets the accommodation criteria of the designated prison.
   2. The number of prisoners accommodated by the designated prison does not exceed the approved capacity.
   3. The current prison and the designated prison are not located in the same municipality, city, or county.
   4. The designated prison is not undertaking a large construction project or refurbishment or where there is an emergency safety or health hazard.
   5. Where a designated prison fails to meet the criteria set forth in A, B or D of the preceding paragraph, the Agency of Corrections may, based on the prisoner’s will, allow the prisoner to be transferred to another prison located in the same area as the designated prison. If relatives of the prisoner are not clear how the delineation of area, they can inquire the General Affairs Section of the current prison.

What are the requirements for transferring to an open prison?

Prisoners who will be considered to serve at an open prison must meet the following requirements:

1. Active qualifications:
   1. Serving a prison term and one third of sentence or one half of the sentence for a recidivist has been served.
   2. Having evidence of repentance and served a term that renders the prisoner legally eligible for parole application. However if the prisoner must receive therapeutic treatment according to his or her individual treatment program and has any of the following situations, it shall be deemed that there is no evidence of repentance:
      1. The prisoner is subject to drug offender treatment, but has not completed the basic treatment or has not participated in advanced treatment for more than 48 hours.
      2. The prisoner is subject to drunk driving offender treatment but has not participated in the treatment program for 24 hours or longer.
      3. The prisoner is subject to sex crime treatment but has not received an evaluation that the recidivism risk is significantly reduced.
   3. Performing well in prison, suitable for open prison work, not posing the risk of endangering public order or security, and free of the following situations:
      1. The prisoner was punished by prison pursuant to Paragraph 1, Article 86 of the Prison Act within the past year.
      2. The prisoner is currently contracted with a communicable disease.
      3. The prisoner is currently subject to mild measures.
      4. The prisoner has attempted escape or committed an act of riot while in prison.
2. Passive qualifications: Prisoners having any of the conditions below are not eligible for selection:
   1. Intentionally committed a crime that results in death.
   2. Committed an offense that carries a principal punishment of minimal 10-year imprisonment.
   3. Committed an offense provided under the latter section of Paragraph 4, Article 135 or Paragraph 2, Article 136 of the Criminal Code that results in aggravated injury, or committed an offense provided under Article 161, Paragraph 1 or latter section of Paragraph 2, Article 302-1, Article 303, Paragraph 1, Paragraph 2, or latter section of Paragraph 3 of Article 328, Paragraph 1 of Article 330, Paragraph 1 or Paragraph 2 of Article 333, Paragraph 1 of Article 339-4, Paragraph 1 of Article 347, or Article 348-1 of the Criminal Code.
   4. Committed an offense provided under front section of Paragraph 1, Article 3, Paragraphs 2 ~ 4 of Article 4 of the Organized Crime Prevention Act.
   5. Committed an offense provided under Paragraph 1 or Paragraph 2 of Article 7, or Paragraphs 1 ~ 3 of Article 8 of the Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act.
   6. Committed an offense provided under Paragraph 1 of Article 33, Paragraph 1 or Paragraph 2 of Article 34, Paragraph 2 or Paragraph 3 (committing an offense under Paragraph 2 of the same article) of Article 35, or Paragraph 3 or Paragraph 4 (committing an offense under Paragraph 3 of the same article) of Article 36 of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act.
   7. Committed an offense provided under the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act, except for offenses under Article 10, Article 11, Paragraph 3 and Paragraph 4 of Article 14 of the same act.
   8. Committed an offense provided under Paragraph 1, Article 5 of the Anti-Corruption Act, except where there were no proceeds of crime or the personal proceeds of crime have been confiscated or collected.
   9. Committed an offense under the Securities and Exchange Act, Banking Act, Financial Holding Company Act, The Act Governing Bills Finance Business, Trust Enterprise Act, The Credit Cooperative Act, Insurance Act, Agricultural Finance Act, or Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Act that carries a principal punishment of minimal seven-year imprisonment, except where there were no proceeds of crime or the personal proceeds of crime have been confiscated or collected.
   10. Committed a human trafficking offense provided under Subparagraph 2, Article 2 of the Human Trafficking Prevention Act.
   11. Committed an offense other than those under the preceding ten subparagraphs but under Subparagraph 1, Article 2 of the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act or a domestic violence offense under Subparagraph 2 of Article 2 or Article 61 (violation of protection order) of the Domestic Violence Prevention Act.
   12. Being a recidivist. However the preceding provision does not apply if all previous cases were punished by a sentence of less than six months in prison and have been executed.
   13. Serving the remaining sentence after the revocation of parole or serving a sentence of imprisonment for committing another crime during parole.
   14. Having rehabilitation measures to be executed.

How to apply for serving sentence in an open prison?

1. Currently the selection of prisoners for open prison is conducted once every quarter. Prisoners can submit an application to the correctional officers according to announcement made by the facility. The facility will conduct eligibility review and assign the prisoner a preliminary score according to the established rules, and then report the applications to the Agency of Corrections for further review and approval.
2. The Agency of Corrections will review the scores of prisoners participating in the selection and submit the list of applicants ranked by their score to the Open Prison Selection Committee for decision. Any decision of the Selection Committee must be passed in a meeting by at least the majority of committee members present. The assignment will then be done based on prisoner’s wish and the needs and vacancies of open prisons.
3. Currently open prisons that accommodate male prisoners include Bade Minimum Security Prison, Mingde Minimum-Security Prison, Ziqiang Minimum-Security Prison, Wulin Minimum-Security Prison, Taichung Minimum-Security Branch of Taichung Prison, and Pingtung Minimum-Security Branch of Pingtung Prison.

Can family members be notified in advance the date a prisoner will transfer prison?

1. For security reasons, prisoner’s families will not be notified of the time and date of prisoner’s prison transfer in advance. However the previous prison will notify prisoner’s family members or nearest relatives in 3 days after the prison transfer operation is completed in writing, by phone, via Internet or by other appropriate means, and make a record of the notice, unless such notice cannot be made.
2. If the prisoner has several family members or nearest relatives, the previous prison is only required to notify one of them.