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The current public understanding of "prison" means the executive place where convicted criminals receive punishment, correction and reformation. This seeming simple concept, for Taiwanese of 100 years ago, is a modern western penalty rather than the traditional Chinese penalty of “whipping, stick beating, exile, and death." After Japanese occupation started in 1895, it brought western prison system and set up Taiwanese penalties from traditional ways to modern ones.
Taiwanese prison order during Japanese occupation period was reformed via "Taiwanese Prison Order"in 1895, "Taiwanese Prison Regulation" in 1899 and "Taiwanese Prison Rule” in 1908. Most of Taiwanese prison orders' content follows Japanese prison regulations, as a partial extension of Japanese common law. However, there are regulations suiting local circumstances in Taiwanese prison order so to demonstrate that Taiwanese prison system is not directly under the Japanese control, but varies according to its needs. The Governor Palace in Taiwan entitling of legislation institutes special regulations in Taiwanese prison order and legislates special law orders such as "Immediate Sentence for Criminals," "Penalty and Whipping Example" and "Furosha Prohibition Rules" as the more convenient ways to replace prison system. These special law orders not only influence Taiwanese prison system’s operation, but also cause Taiwanese people to have difficulty distinguishing the difference among "Prison," "Detention Center" and "Furosha Rehabilitation."
Taiwanese prison system is divided into the central institutions which supervise the prison operation and the actual prison-superintending local prisons. Since 1900, the prison affair was directly under the superintendence of the Governor Palace in Taiwan's Legal Affairs Section. The prison distributions in Taiwan consist of three major prisons of Taipei, Taichung and Tainan, and subdivisions of Yilan, Hsinchu, Chiayi, Kaohsiung and Hualien Harbor. The operation of Taiwanese prison systems is also via the Governor Palace in Taiwan
The issue of "Prison Officials of the Governor Palace in Taiwan" establishes the official duties of warden, chef guarder, interpreter, prison doctor and moral instructor in order to ensure smooth prison operation. A part of these officials comes from the cultivation of “Police Officer-Training School of the Governor Palace in Taiwan." Nevertheless, due to the training course of Taiwanese police officials is subordinated to the police school, some officials would choose to study at the police officer-training school in Japan.
The modern prison's management styles toward prisoners gradually transform the core from "punishment" to "education." With the change of prison management styles, the emphasis of "prison" execution shifts from imposing panality on those prisoners to assisting them to reform themselves and return to society. During the Shouwa period in Japan, the concept of "educational panality” was implemented to “Progressive Treatment of the Punishment System” and "Parole Investigation Regulation.” However, the Governor Palace in Taiwan does not practice these law orders; as a result, Taiwanese prison emphasizes the penalty side rather than the educational function. The different treatment toward prisoners in Taiwan and Japan suggests that even under the modern facade of Taiwanese prison system, the unequal treatment under colonial rule still exists.
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