Taiwan, prisoners commit suicide after failed prison escape
Kaohsiung (AsiaNews) - A group of six inmates in
Kaohsiung prison yesterday took the deputy director of the structure Lai
Chen-jung (賴振榮) and the captain of the guard Wang
Shih-tsang (王世 倉) hostage. Under the guise of a medical examination, the inmates
stole six guns and four assault rifles with over 300 bullets from the prison
deposit. Their escape attempt, however, ended in a bloodbath.
The six prisoners, aged between 38 and 64, complained about the treatment they
received from the guards and the low wages paid for work done during their
prison term. They were interned for crimes ranging from murder to drug
trafficking.
The group sprang their escape plan after lunch: they took the two officials hostage
at gunpoint and locked themselves in a protected area. From here they made
their demands: an unmarked car with no navigator in which to leave the prison
and then disappear.
A huge police and special force presence was deployed. The inmates demands were
rejected and their families and even a
well-known leader of the local gangs brought to the scene to persuade them to
surrender. TV stations and journalists had already arrived on site to cover the
event minute by minute.
The prison director Chen Shih-chih (陳世 志) then asked to negotiate with the six prisoners and offered
himself as a hostage in exchange for his deputy. Around three am this morning the
hostages were released unharmed and the escape plan fell asunder. The six prisoners
made a desperate bid to escape an intense exchange of fire with police special
forces who had surrounded the entire perimeter of the prison.
With no other way out they then chose suicide over surrender, pointing their
weapons against themselves, according to reports from sources provided to
journalists by police. After fifteen hours of siege and negotiations, the story
ended with six dead and two hostages released.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) stressed that
all prisons in Taiwan are in need of a reform of regulations and safety
measures to avoid further such incidents. The majority of prisoners are accused
of drug trafficking and theft, crimes that left prisons majorly overcrowded.
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08/09/2020 10:20
19/04/2024 16:16
