2026-04-13 11:30 United Daily News / Reporters Yuan Zhihao and Shao Xinjie
More than a year after the amendment to the Act Governing Off-Duty Prisons, which tightened regulations, the act was amended again in early 2025 to relax them. Wang Po-Chi, Associate Professor of the Department of Criminal Justice at Ming Chuan University, believes that the most important thing is for the Ministry of Justice and the Correctional Agency to implement the reporting of escaped inmates. For example, if an inmate does not return within one minute of the 8 pm curfew, the police should be notified immediately. As long as the safety of officers on duty is ensured, it is better to report early and make advance arrangements than to delay reporting. Wang Po-Chi pointed out that the design of the Off-Duty Prisons system is mainly for long-term inmates who are about to leave prison. Through open, unfenced, and low-level management methods, they can gradually adapt to the pace of normal life so that they can reintegrate into society as soon as possible after release. In addition to the greater freedom, what inmates aspire to enroll for is that, based on their progressive treatment level, their sentence can be reduced by 4 to 16 days per month.