A new function has been added to the internal prison management system in Taiwan, allowing correctional facilities nationwide to issue an immediate warning of a jailbreak, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) said Thursday.
The alert will be issued within an hour of a prison’s report about an escape, Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) told lawmakers in a committee hearing at the Legislature.
Tsai was reporting to the committee about his ministry’s efforts to address public concerns over prison management in Taiwan, after two police officers were murdered last month by a minimum security prison inmate, who had run off while on two-day leave.
With the implementation of the new alert system, Tsai said, prison officers are now required to not only report any jailbreaks on the internal prison management system but also to simultaneously inform the Agency of Corrections, so that the alert can be disseminated nationwide to police via the M-Police Mobile Computer System, Tsai said.
In addition, the prison staff must also contact a prosecutor’s office within two hours after they become aware of an inmate’s escape, so that an arrest warrant can be issued, Tsai said.
Meanwhile, the MOJ and its agencies are cracking down on the illegal possession of firearms, particularly as Taiwan’s local government elections are coming up in November, Tsai told the legislative committee.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel