Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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THE TAIPEI HIGH Administrative Court has ruled in favor of setting up a voting box in the Taipei Prison. This occurred after an inmate, surnamed Lin, filed a lawsuit arguing for his right to vote in prison.
Lin previously appealed to the Taoyuan County Election Commission (TCEC) and Central Election Commission (CEC) through an inmate rights group, Prison Watch, to be allowed to vote. The CEC and TCEC both demurred in the request, stating that Taipei Prison fell under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice. Despite its name, the Taipei Prison is actually located in Taoyuan County, hence why the TCEC is a relevant stakeholder in the case.
The TCEC’s response was that Lin should apply for a release from jail to vote. Yet this was deemed impractical, hence Lin’s lawsuit to be allowed to vote in the Taipei Prison.
For its part, however, the CEC plans to appeal the decision. The claim is that prisoners such as Lin will need to be unhandcuffed while voting and they will be unable to be supervised. The suggestion, then, is that this will be dangerous to prison guards or could potentially allow for the possibility of escape.
This claim goes to show the punitive nature of prison culture in Taiwan, as well as to what extent “criminals” are feared as violent and dangerous. This contributes to attitudes in policing that lead to the use of escalatory violence against those deemed to be violent criminals, even when they may pose little threat to police. One observes this in the shooting death of migrant worker Nguyen Quoc Phi in August 2017, with police deeming him violent and dangerous despite throwing rocks–effectively pebbles–at them. It is, of course, very unlikely that a prisoner, left unsupervised for the short amount of time it takes to vote, would prove dangerous.
Nevertheless, Taiwan has seen fit to prevent members of the public from voting in the past. One can observe this with those that had COVID-19 prevented from voting during the pandemic, due to pandemic restrictions.
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It was warned that mandatory quarantines could prevent 65,000 or more Taiwanese from voting, but Taiwan historically has not allowed for absentee balloting. In part, this is due to concerns about the large number of overseas Taiwanese–including in China–who could potentially sway elections in the direction of pro-China interests despite having spent a long period of time away from Taiwan. As such, it is thought that returning to Taiwan to vote can be proof of commitment to Taiwan in such a way that prevents this from occurring.
Either way, during the pandemic, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) did not take measures to allow those with COVID-19 to vote. This occurred despite suggestions such as designated times for those with COVID-19 to vote.
Perhaps what this reflects is the extent to which the public disregards if certain segments of the population are not allowed to vote, if they are considered dangerous and in need of being relegated away from the rest of society.
Punitive attitudes in society, as well as public adulation of the police, contribute to such issues. One notes, for example, that after an incident in which an escapee from a low-security prison killed several police officers, the public’s response was to call for restrictions on inmates in low-security prisons and to make it easier for police to respond with violent force, by allowing for more police to be equipped with firearms. This eventually did, in fact, lead to legislation loosening rules for firearms usage by police.
Indeed, it is already the case that prisoners can be stripped of their civil rights as a punishment in Taiwan. Yet even so, there is a lack of consideration of taking measures for prisoners to exercise their right to vote. This more broadly reflects attitudes towards incarceration in Taiwan insofar as the attempt is not to rehabilitate or educate, but to excise them from the social fabric. It will prove hard to change such deeply entrenched attitudes in Taiwanese society.