What are the classification levels of prisoners under the progressive treatment system?

1. Progressive treatment means the corrective treatments received by prisoners are classified into four levels based on prisoner’s performance while incarcerated. Prisoner’s level is advanced gradually, and the higher the level, the treatment they receive are more lenient. The progressive treatment system aims to embed the sense of accountability in prisoners, encourage them to repent and move forward and cultivate their ability to adapt to social life after release.
2. Prisoners with term of imprisonment of six months or longer are classified into four levels under progressive treatment. Prisoners start with Level 4 and advance progressively. Each prison is assigned a responsibility score which is tabulated based on sentence, applicable laws at the time of sentence, number of offense (recidivist or repeat offender), age of offender (adult or juvenile), etc. The responsibility score is written off by the performance score prisoners acquire every month and the prisoner may be advanced to Level 3, 2 or 1 when their responsibility score is totally written off. The responsibility scores shall be reduced one third in the case of juvenile prisoners. The responsibility scores of prisoners whose parole is revoked shall be increased by 50%. The responsibility scores of prisoners with multiple conditions will be computed on a pro rata basis.
3. After prisoners are classified, the correctional officers will, based on their daily performance, give the prisoners scores on work, edification and education, and conduct every month, which will be used to write off the prisoner’s responsibility score. When a prisoner’s responsibility score is totally written off, the prisoner may be advanced to a higher level, and the excess performance score will be combined into the score calculation for the level advanced into.

What are the parole conditions?

1. Parole means a prisoner who is sentenced to life or a term of imprisonment and has served a statutory period of time and shows evidence of repentance may be provisionally released prior to the completion of sentence period, provided the provisional release is approved by the Agency of Corrections. If the prisoner does not commit any more crimes or violate any rules during parole, the original sentence that is not yet served is considered served. However if the parole is revoked, the prisoner shall go back to prison to serve the sentence period that is not yet completed.
2. The conditions for requesting parole are determined by the time the prisoner’s offense was committed as follows:
   1. If the Criminal Code implemented on July 1, 2006 applies: Prisoners sentenced to life may apply for parole after serving over 25 years; for first-time offenders, after serving over 1/2 of the sentence; for recidivists, after serving over 2/3 of the sentence; but the prisoner must have served at least 6 months in prison.
      If the Criminal Code implemented on November 28, 1997 applies: Regular prisoners sentenced to life may apply for parole after serving 15 years; for recidivists sentenced to life, after serving at least 20 years; for prisoners who are sentenced to a term of imprisonment, after serving at least 1/2 of the sentence; for recidivists sentenced to a term of imprisonment, after serving at least 2/3 of the sentence.
      If the Criminal Code implemented on January 30, 1994 applies: Regular prisoners sentenced to life may apply for parole after serving at least 10 years; for prisoners who are sentenced to a term of imprisonment, after serving at least 1/2 of the sentence.
   2. The prisoner’s edification and education score, work score and conduct score should all be 3 points or higher in the past 3 months. The work score needs not be considered if the prisoner was unable to work.
   3. The prisoner shows evidence of repentance.
3. For prisoners who meet the conditions described above, the prison may file the inmate’s parole application to the parole review panel for a decision and then report the decision to the Agency of Corrections for final approval. However prisoners who have not served their sentence for six months or longer, recidivists whose offense carries a long sentence, and sex offenders who, after being counseled or treated, are founded as having not remarkably reduced the danger of repeating the offense are not eligible for parole.

If parole is granted, will the prisoner or prisoner’s relatives be notified?

Families of a prisoner who is granted parole will not be notified, unless the prisoner has moving difficulty, or has problem returning home on his or her own, or is gravely ill, has psychiatric disorder, or a domestic violence offender.

What are the parole periods and the effectiveness of parole?

1. Parole period:

   The parole period varies under different amendments of the Criminal Code:

   1. If the Criminal Code implemented on July 1, 2006 applies: The parole period is 20 years after being released on parole for prisoners sentenced to life, and it is the remaining portion of sentence after being released on parole for prisoners sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment.
   2. If the Criminal Code implemented on November 28, 1997 applies: The parole period is 15 years after being released on parole for prisoners sentenced to life, and it is the remaining portion of sentence after being released on parole for prisoners sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment.
   3. If the Criminal Code implemented on January 30, 1994 applies: The parole period is 10 years after being released on parole for prisoners sentenced to life, and it is the remaining portion of sentence after being released on parole for prisoners sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment.
2. Effectiveness of parole:
   If a parole was not revoked during the parole period, the unexecuted portion of the sentence shall be considered to have been executed. That is, the originally pronounced punishment is considered completely executed.

How are parole applications reviewed?

1. A decision to grant a parole or not is made based on an overview of the prisoner’s crime (motivation, techniques used in crime, damages caused), behavior in prison (daily words and deeds, counseling record, reward and punishment records), criminal records (judgments received, sentences served, rehabilitative measures received, record on revocation of parole or probation), effectiveness of the edification or correctional treatment (progressive treatment scores, implementation of individual corrective treatment program, courses attended or vocational training received), after-care plan (any suitable job waiting after release, job skills, availability of fixed residence), and other related matters (family support, reparations for crime committed, return of proceeds of crime, opinions of victims, prisoner statement, etc.).
2. To ensure the appropriateness and stability of execution of punishments rendered according to the country’s criminal laws, parole review must take into account the criminal policies,crime trends and public order and security, and assess relevant information and data to meet people’s expectation for criminal justice. Therefore, if a parole application does not meet the aforementioned considerations, the Agency of Corrections will not grant the parole. The Ministry of Justice has consulted the opinions of experts, scholars and people working in the field of criminal justice to develop three aspects of review – crime committed, performance after committing the crime (including behavior in prison), and risk of recidivism (including prior criminal records). So parole review will be strict for prisoners who have committed major crimes and the crimes were serial, organized and violent in nature, prisoners who constantly break prison rules and are difficult to edify, or prisoners who have a long criminal record or have committed crimes again while on parole. The review will be more lenient for prisoners who have committed minor crimes, who are first-time offender or negligent offender, who have performed well in prison or have a proper after-care plan in place.

Under what circumstances will parole be revoked? What happens to those parolee’s remaining sentence?

1. When a parolee has any of the following situations, his or her parole officer under the prosecutors office will send a letter to the original prison to request revocation of parole:
   1. Paragraph 1, Article 78 of the Criminal Code provides: “During the period of parole, if the offender has intentionally committed another crime for which he is sentenced to an imprisonment of more than six months by a final judgment, his parole shall be revoked.” Paragraph 2 of the same article provides: “During the period of parole, if the offender has intentionally committed another crime for which he is sentenced to probation or an imprisonment of less than six months by final judgment, and if it is necessary to execute the punishment of the imprisonment again, his parole may be revoked.” Paragraph 3 provides: “The revocation under the proceeding two paragraphs shall be rendered within six months after the judgment becomes final. However, this shall not apply if the period of parole has expired for three years.” Paragraph 4 provides “The number of days spent out of prison after the revocation of a parole shall not be calculated as part of the period of the punishment of imprisonment.”
   2. If the parolee violates any provision under the subparagraphs of Article 74-2 of the Rehabilitative Disposition Execution Act during the period of parole and the offense is serious, the parole may be revoked. Those provisions include: (a) Maintaining good behaviors and no interactions with people with propensity to crime; (b) Complying with the orders given by the prosecutor and the parole officer; (c) Shall not offend the victim, complainant, or informant; (d) Reporting health and living conditions, and working environment to the parole officer at least once a month; and (e) Unless approved by the parole officer, do not leave the area of protective control. Approval of the prosecutor shall be acquired if the parolee plans to leave the area for more than 10 days.
2. After parole is revoked, the remaining sentence to be served by the prisoner is as follows:
   1. If the Criminal Code implemented on July 1, 2006 applies: After the revocation of parole, the prisoner’s days on parole will not be counted as time served; prisoners sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment shall continue to serve the remaining sentence, and prisoners sentenced to life shall serve another 25 years (no longer eligible for parole) before the prisoners start to serve other sentences.
   2. If the Criminal Code implemented on November 28, 1997 applies: After the revocation of parole, the prisoner’s days on parole will not be counted as time served; prisoners sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment shall continue to serve the remaining sentence, and prisoners sentenced to life shall serve another 20 years (no longer eligible for parole) before the prisoners start to serve other sentences.
   3. If the Criminal Code implemented on January 30, 1994 applies: After the revocation of parole, the prisoner’s days on parole will not be counted as time served; prisoners sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment shall continue to serve the remaining sentence, and prisoners sentenced to life shall serve another 10 years (eligible for parole). The prisoners can apply for parole again if they meet the parole criteria.
3. The responsibility score of prisoners whose parole is revoked shall be calculated based on the standards set out in Article 19 of the Statute of Progressive Execution of Penalty and then increased by one half.

If a prisoner was held in detention for an excessive long period of time before he or she was sent to prison, what are the remedial measures with regard to such prisoner’s parole application and progressive treatment?

1. Prisoners who were held in detention before arriving at prison and meet the following conditions may be assigned or reclassified to Level 3 after their case is considered by the Prisons Affairs Committee and approved by the superior authority:
   1. The detention period meets the following criteria and is as stated in the execution instruction:
      1. For prisoners whose sentence is more than 3 years but less than 30 years in prison, the detention period must exceed 1/6 of the term of imprisonment.
      2. For prisoners whose sentence is more than 30 years or life in prison, the detention period must exceed 5 years.
   2. For prisoners manifesting a strong sense of responsibility and suitability for communal life: The number of months with grade B or better for behavior review during the detention period must account for at least 1/2 of the total months in detention for first-time offenders and repeat offenders, at least 2/3 of the total months in detention for recidivists, and the prisoners did not break any rule, observe order, and behave well after arriving at the prison (under the new law implemented on July 15, 2020, the part on behavior review is deleted that review is carried out on other specific items).
2. By the intent of Article 14 of the Statute of Progressive Execution of Penalty and Article 10 of its Enforcement Rules, “assigned to Level 3” is limited to prisoners who have not been classified. For classified prisoners who meet the criteria for “assigned to Level 3” after change of sentence or tabulation of prison term, the eligibility and procedure for “reclassified to Level 3” are as follows
   1. The provisions apply retroactively to prisoners who are still held at correctional facilities and meet the aforementioned conditions (including prisoners who have advanced to Level 3 or better).
   2. For prisoners who break the rules or do not comply with the provisions of Article 10 of the Enforcement Rules for Statute of Progressive Execution of Penalty after arriving at the prison (school), the Prison Affairs (Correction) Committee may decide not to reclassify the prisoner to Level 3.
   3. For prisoners eligible for reclassifying to Level 3 and meeting the aforementioned conditions, the Prison Affairs Committee may make a decision to submit the case to the superior authority for approval and reclassify the prisoner to Level 3 after approval is granted.
3. For prisoners who were held in detention for a period of time but are not eligible for “assigned to Level 3” or “reclassified to Level 3”, the correctional facility may, based on their performance and fair considerations of progressive treatment and sentenced served, adjust their performance score to rectify the fact that they were in detention for an excessive period of time. In addition, if prisoners faithfully obey the prison rules, behave themselves and actively participate in all kinds of activities, the correctional facility may give them a certificate of merit or increase their performance score so they have the chance to advance to a higher level.

What does “mild measures” mean? What are the rules?

1. Prisoners with more than 6 months of sentence and having any of the following situations may be subject to mild measures after the approval of the supervisory agency:
   1. The prisoner suffers from a disease and requires long-term care in accordance to a doctor’s certificate of diagnosis.
   2. There are objective facts showing that the prisoner lacks cognitive skills due to his/her physical or mental conditions and cannot take care of himself/herself; or where the prisoner’s cognitive skills have diminished significantly.
   3. The prisoner suffers from senility, physical or mental disabilities, or mobility impairments, or cannot take care of himself in prison.
   4. The prisoner is pregnant or has given birth less than two months prior.
   5. The prison deems it necessary based on other facts.
2. Prisoners eligible for mild measures are subject to more lenient treatment than that under the progressive treatment program.
   1. Edification: Edification shall be implemented through individual counseling and other methods beneficial to their physical and mental wellbeing.
   2. Work: Prisoners may be assigned light work based on their interests and their physical and mental health conditions. They may receive monthly labor compensation and use them freely.
   3. Confinement: Confinement shall be implemented based on the conditions of each individual. To protect their physical and mental health, an inmate may be confined separately from other inmates.
   4. Visits and correspondence: Where necessary for the treatment of illnesses, management, or edification, the prison may allow the nearest relatives, family members, or others to visit and send and receive correspondence. It may also arrange visits at suitable locations.
   5. Supply: Food for inmates suffering from diseases may be changed to suitable food based on instructions of the doctor’s treatment plan.
   6. Classification: Prisoners eligible for progressive treatment shall be classified in accordance with the Statute of Progressive Execution of Penalty. The responsibility scores after classification shall be 80% of the standard scores calculated specified in Article 19 of the same Statute.
3. Prisoners with less than 6 months of sentence may be eligible to suitable treatment outside the classification system if they have a situation under the first paragraph.

What does “sentence abridgement” mean? What are the rules?

1. Abridgement of term is a correctional treatment system applied to prisoners who behave well during incarceration that the prisoner’s prison term will be shortened according to law to urge them to repent and be a solid citizen in the society.
2. General prisoners who are advanced to Level 3 under progressive treatment and receive a monthly performance score of 10 points or higher can have their prison term shortened; their prison term is shortened 2 days each month (of service) for Level 3, 4 days each month for Level 2 and 6 days each month for Level 1.
3. Open-prison prisoners are eligible for abridged prison term for each month service as follows starting from the next month following their arrival at prison, provided they are free of the situations of bad working attitude, violating disciplinary rules or receiving demotion penalty in progressive treatment: prison term is shortened 4 days each month (of service) for Level 4 or unclassified prisoners, 8 days each month for Level 3, 12 days each month for Level 2 and 16 days each month for Level 1.
4. Prisoners whose remaining sentence is less than one month are not eligible for abridged prison term.
5. Prisoners granted abridged prison term do not need to serve the days shortened, and days shortened in accordance with the Statute of Progressive Execution of Penalty may not be retracted. However, if an open-prison prisoner performs poorly at work, disobeys the rules or receives demotion penalty but remains in open prison given the severity of the situation, the prisoner will not be entitled to the sentence abridgement privilege for the month. If the prisoner is sent to another prison from the open prison, the days shortened previously will all be retracted. For prisoners whose parole is revoked, the days shortened earned by the prisoners while they were at an open prison will also be retracted. That means they still need to serve the term retracted.
6. For prisoners with abridged prison term that changes their classification, their performance score under the progressive treatment system will be recalculated, and the responsibility scores already written off will be converted on a pro rata basis.

How to request commuting a punishment to a fine? Are there any rules?

1. Defendants or inmates who meet the conditions set out in Article 41 of the Criminal Code can petition to the local prosecutors office that executes the sentence for commuting a prison term to fines. The conditions are as follows:
   1. In an offense that carries a maximum principal punishment of not more than five years’ imprisonment, if the offender is sentenced to imprisonment for not more than six months or short-term imprisonment, the punishment may be commuted to a fine at a daily rate of NT$1000, NT$2000 or NT$3000 (depending on the order given in the court verdict). However, the prosecutor may deny the request if it is deemed that the commutation is manifestly of little corrective effect, or that law and order cannot be maintained by commuting the prison term to fines.
   2. The preceding provision also applies if all offenses in a combined punishment are eligible for commutation to fines even if the combined punishment is more than 6 months of prison.
2. Defendants or inmates whose punishment may be commuted to fines should pay the fines at the prosecutors office, and may apply for installment payment.
3. For inmates who are serving a sentence in prison and like to commute punishment to fines, their relatives can bring their ID card to the prosecutors office to make the request. If the inmate has sufficient money in safekeeping account, he or she can also submit a written petition to the prosecutors office to request commutation to fines and pay the fines with the money in the safekeeping account.
4. Any question about commutation to fines may be inquired by calling the local prosecutors office.