Language, food, culture and religion are just some of the problems people face if they find themselves behind bars in a foreign country, the ministry stated, adding that serving jail terms in home countries would also allow ease of family visits, which may have a positive effect on the rehabilitation process.
A recent example of success in this area is Taiwan's draft agreement with Panama to allow convicted nationals from either nation to serve their prison terms in their home countries. According to the MOJ, the deal was inked Aug. 1 after two years of negotiations. The ministry expects to finalize the agreement soon.
The reason for the signing of the agreement occurred in September 2005 after a Panamanian court convicted an ROC national of murder and sentenced him to almost 20 years in jail. As one of the 23 countries that recognize Taiwan diplomatically, the Panamanian government repatriated the convict July 4 this year, although no agreement for such a practice existed at the time.
After the ROC-Panama agreement, the government is expected to negotiate with the Thai government to repatriate 115 ROC nationals serving sentences in the kingdom's jails, Zhang Xue-hai, president of the Taiwan Association for Legal Education, said Aug. 5.
Over the past few years, the MOJ and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been working in tandem to negotiate with Thai authorities on prisoner swapping. At present, 80 percent of 115 Taiwanese nationals are behind bars in Thailand on charges of drug-related crimes and are serving average sentences of 25 years, Zhang noted. Nevertheless, Taiwan's efforts to sign a prisoner agreement with Thailand have made little progress because it would be a violation of the kingdom's domestic laws to sign such pact with Taiwan, which is not a diplomatic ally of Thailand.
Meanwhile, pressure from human-rights organizations at home and abroad have forced Thai prison administrators to agree in principle to increase the visiting time for families of Taiwanese inmates.
According to Huang Yuan-kuang, international prosecutor at the Department of Prosecutorial Affairs under the MOJ, many countries have signed or are trying to reach agreements on prisoner exchange pacts with Taiwan. For example, in March 2002, the American Institute in Taiwan and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States inked the "Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters."
"The main barrier to Taiwan signing deals on prisoner exchanges with an increased number of countries around the world is its lack of diplomatic recognition," Huang said. "This makes the process more complicated and time-consuming."
Since 1985, many countries have signed pacts to request legal assistance in criminal matters based on the "Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons" concluded by the member States of the Council of Europe and non-member States that have participated in its elaboration, in Strasbourg in 1983.
Write to Tso Lon-di at londi@mail.gio.gov.tw