NCJ Number
203620
Journal
International Criminal Justice Review Volume: 13 Dated: 2003 Pages: 149-167
Date Published
2003
Length
19 pages
Annotation
An examination of regime and authority structures reveals the effective management of a large inmate population in one Taiwanese prison, demonstrating that the control model borrowed from the West apparently works better in Taiwan than in the United States.
Abstract
The fieldwork for this study was conducted in Tainan Prison for 6 weeks, beginning in November 1999. A variety of research methods were used, including observation, sampling, interviewing, and documentation review. The architecture of the prison was noted, relations between inmates and staff observed, and prison records and statistics examined, so as to gain an understanding of the conditions and composition of the institution. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. The prison regimen is based in a strong authoritarian ideology, strictly maintaining militaristic lines and clearly defined staff-inmate boundaries. Tainan Prison has a reputation as the strictest prison in Taiwan. Inmates are kept under constant supervision, and upon arrival new inmates are housed separately from the general population until crime type, previous occupation, and personal details are assessed to determine risk level. Prison work is obligatory, and hierarchical relationships are the core of the workshop community. The most obvious quality-of-life issue for inmates is overcrowding, particularly in the cells. In addition, prison health services have long been the subject of intense criticism from both inside and outside the prison. Tainan Prison is an example of how a mega-prison is successfully governed without disturbances or riots. In every facet of prison practice, strict disciplinary techniques foster a system of social relations that are defined in terms of power and control. This system, which has been borrowed from prisons in the West, appears to work far better in Taiwan than in the United States. Attention should be paid to the impact of the penal models of the West on the rest of the world through the influence of policies, rationales, organizational structures, values, social relations, language, techniques, and cultural infrastructure. It is important to review postcolonial relations in criminological perspective in order to gain further understanding of crime control in the international context. 34 references