Evaluation and Commentary on the 2021 Q4 External Visitation Reports

To implement the principle of transparency and protect the rights and interests of detained persons, the Enforcement of Imprisonment Act was amended on July 15, 2020, to introduce the external visitation system, requiring external visitation committees to submit visitation reports every quarter. Since the publication of the very first visitation report (2020 Q4) by the visitation committees, the Judicial Reform Foundation has continuously led interns and volunteers in regularly reviewing these reports, hoping to care for the rights and interests of detained persons through external visitation reports.

Following the publication of the 2021 Q4 external visitation reports, interns and volunteers reviewed the reports submitted by the external visitation committees of various correctional institutions and compiled the "Evaluation and Commentary on the 2021 Q4 External Visitation Reports." They hope to offer humble opinions for the reference of all sectors and external visitation committees, while promoting the realization of the external visitation system to enhance the transparency of correctional facilities.

However, we have yet to see the 2021 Q4 visitation report from the Penghu Prison external visitation committee, nor has any reason been provided, leaving the public unable to examine its visitation contents and outcomes.

I. Evaluation of External Visitation Reports

1. Evaluation Scope: Visitation reports from the external visitation committees of various correctional institutions for the fourth quarter of 2021.
2. Evaluation Criteria:
   • (1) Committee Member Information
     1. Whether the identity information of the members is disclosed.
     2. Whether there is an explanation of members' attendance status.
     3. Whether members' professional backgrounds related to external visitation are explained.
   • (2) Case Subject
     1. Degree of clarity, and whether it is sufficient for readers of the report to understand the visitation content of the case.
     2. Relevance to the rights and interests of detained persons.
     3. Diversity of visitation items.
   • (3) Visitation Content and Handling Status
     1. Completeness of content: Whether basic data of the correctional institution is presented, such as the number of detained persons, target population, staffing allocation, and other contextual information helpful for understanding the main content of the visitation report.
     2. Explanation of the visitation plan: Whether annual visitation priorities and visitation plans were proposed.
     3. Visitation activities: Whether on-site visit dates and frequencies, interviewees and sampling methods, methods and quantities of written opinion collection, document acquisition status, or other visitation activities undertaken to understand institutional operations and the rights and interests of detained persons were stated, as well as the number of petitions received.
     4. Visitation recommendations: Whether the opinions of detained persons were referenced / petitions were responded to, and whether specific visitation conditions and related recommendations were proposed.
     5. Whether the visitation content was proposed/written by the members or by the correctional institution.
3. Outstanding External Visitation Reports: 7 Correctional Institutions

   Outstanding External Visitation Report	Reasons for Selection
   Yunlin Prison	The appendices of the visitation report very completely present the composition of the visitation committee and the information obtained from the visitation. The list of members is fully disclosed, with relevant background information and areas of expertise provided; the visitation subjects are rich and diverse, totaling 11 items (across three major categories). It is also evident that members explained the information obtained from the visitation in detail from aspects such as laws, procedures, existing conditions, and problems, and provided rich and specific recommendations at the end of each subject. The content of the appendix is more specific and detailed than the report itself. It is uncertain whether the format prescribed by the Agency of Corrections restricted the content the members intended to express.
   Taitung District Taoyuan Skill Training Institute	Completely presents the list of members and their attendance status. Under "Visitation Content and Handling Status," visitation priorities and the external visitation committee's recommendations are separated, clearly showing the visiting members' focus, visitation content, and recommendations. Cares for the rights and interests of detained persons with physical and mental disabilities through interviews, while producing interview records and observing the assistance provided by the institution, demonstrating the members' dedication to protecting disabled detainees. Explains the visitation priorities for 2022, allowing readers to understand the arrangement of the visitation plan. Conducting face-to-face interviews with inmates during the pandemic is extremely difficult. The institution's cooperation in this regard is commendable and credit is due to both the members and the institution. The explanation of sampling and interview procedures is clear and commendable. Uses different colors to highlight the visitation committee's recommendations, which facilitates reading.
   Tun-Pen School	Finding ways to interview students, instructors, and counseling department teachers during the pandemic is commendable. Interviews were conducted and students' opinions were adopted to understand the impact of the reorganization. Notably, it mentioned that more homeroom teachers could take turns caring for students' conditions, which not only relieves the pressure on correctional staff but also provides students with more comprehensive care.
   Taipei Prison	Conducted a survey and analysis of staff opinions, which has not been seen in external visitation committees of other correctional institutions, and is commendable. Inmates are mentioned at the end of the visitation report; however, since the survey items are not labeled for each column, it is unclear what they represent and can only be inferred as opinion surveys for inmates. If the numbers represent headcounts, there are only 2 people, which cannot represent the opinions of the majority of inmates. However, providing smoothies during scorching summers and improving housing equipment to look after inmates' rights is commendable. Adopts the new report format. Separates the visitation report and the competent authority's response explanation into two presentation files, and presents the implementation progress of previous recommendations. Presents committee composition, this quarter's visitation operations, and committee recommendations in itemized points, while marking each member's opinions. Furthermore, members' specific improvement recommendations based on their professional backgrounds are visible. However, Item III "Case Subject / Visitation Priority" and Item II (1) "Visitation Plan or This Quarter's Visitation Priority" should serve the same purpose of explaining questions raised by visiting members. Additionally, both Item III "Visitation Content and Handling Status" and Item IV "Visitation Recommendations" present the visiting members' recommendations/handling; the reason for making Item III specially independent is unclear. Regrettably, the visitation recommendations do not quite align with the visitation content. Members raised many opinions regarding individual treatment plans, but information obtained from the visitation regarding individual treatment plans was not provided.

4. External Visitation Reports Pending Observation

   External Visitation Report Pending Observation	Reasons for Selection
   Ilan Prison	Member information lacks attendance rate (absence) explanations: 2 out of 6 members were absent, but information such as leave or absence was not recorded. The content of the visitation report is vacuous, failing to convey the visiting members' emphasis on their duties, and the proposed content makes it impossible to understand what the visiting members intend to communicate to readers. The sole visitation content and handling status for this quarter is: "Please clearly post warning signs prohibiting mobile phones in the institution's meeting room, so that visiting family members do not miss the signs, mistakenly bring in phones, and take photos that leak out, causing trouble for the institution." Listing this as the sole visitation item for the quarter (the next subject previews the next quarter's visitation focus, with no other visitation subjects) has a more indirect connection to the rights and interests of detained persons, and there is completely no stated reason for prioritizing this topic as the quarter's sole visitation focus.
   Changhua Prison	Member information is undisclosed and lacks attendance rate (absence) explanations. Although a visitation plan was planned in advance, for the three visitation priorities, the committee simply "listened to the institution's operational briefing" without raising any questions or expressing opinions. The visitation report fails to reflect the role of the external visiting members. The visitation report incorporates opinions from detained persons' petitions, but does not show how the visitation committee verified the content of the petitions (e.g., through interviews), relying solely on the opinions of the correctional institution.
   Keelung Detention Center	Members stated that on-site visits were not conducted due to the pandemic, relying instead on institutional briefings. However, for each visitation item, members failed to raise thoughts or suggestions after listening, merely briefly expressing agreement with the institution's handling. Except for Member Huang Yi-pi, other members were not fully disclosed in the report.
   Taoyuan Prison	Member information is not fully disclosed in the report. The visitation subject only concerns individualized treatment for drug offenders (and the visitation content shows it only concerns the single treatment of courses), lacking multi-faceted care for the rights and interests of detained persons, failing to show the members' initiative and proactiveness. The visitation content reads more like a case subject, questioning whether remedial or refinement measures exist for courses suspended due to the pandemic, failing to show the conditions, thoughts, and recommendations observed by members firsthand, making the visitation feel formalistic.

II. Commentary on External Visitation Reports

During the press conference on the comprehensive review of the 2021 correctional institution external visitation committees held on January 19, 2022, our Foundation proposed that the names of external visitation members across all correctional institutions should be fully disclosed, visitation reports should shoulder the task of prison transparency, external visitation procedures should place greater emphasis on interviewing detained persons, and expressed expectations for a more independent external visitation committee. Regarding the 2021 Q4 correctional institution external visitation reports, our commentary is as follows:

1. The transparency of this quarter's external visitation reports has increased and is commendable

   The purpose of external visitation committees submitting visitation reports is to allow the outside world to better understand correctional conditions, protect human rights, and implement the principle of correctional transparency. Comparing the 2021 Q4 reports with the first visitation reports submitted by the visitation committees following the implementation of the amended Enforcement of Imprisonment Act in 2020 Q4, adjustments were made in response to suggestions previously raised by the JRF, enabling the public to better understand visitation conditions, which is commendable.

   • (1) Separating visitation reports and institutional responses into distinct documents facilitates reading:

     In the 2021 Q4 reports, some correctional institutions adjusted the past format where external visitation reports and the handling responses of competent authorities were presented together, dividing the "visitation report" and the "competent authority's response" into separate documents. This direction aligns with suggestions previously raised by the JRF and is commendable. However, as only a minority of correctional institutions currently present "visitation reports" and "competent authority responses" separately, whether this substantially helps to significantly reduce concerns over correctional institutions ghostwriting external visitation reports remains to be observed.

   • (2) Presenting "Overview of Visitation Operations" independently helps understand the execution of visitations:

     In the 2021 Q4 reports, some correctional institutions (e.g., Taipei Prison) separated the "Overview of This Quarter's Visitation Operations," properly presenting the visitation operation overview without mixing it with the visitation content. This helps the outside world understand the visitation committee's arrangement of visitation activities for the quarter and aids public understanding of the committee's operational status, which is commendable.

   • (3) Continuously tracking previous quarters' visitation reports helps implement recommendations:

     From the 2021 Q4 reports, it can be found that some correctional institutions (e.g., Taipei Women's Detention Center, Taipei Juvenile Detention Center) tracked the content of previously submitted visitation reports, supervising whether correctional institutions implemented recommendations proposed from prior visitations. Taking the Taipei Women's Detention Center as an example, its visitation report continuously tracked and understood the visitation recommendations and institutional handling status for 2020 Q1, 2021 Q1, 2021 Q3, and 2021 Q4. This practice is commendable.

   • (4) Adding appendices to visitation reports helps enhance transparency:

     Some correctional institutions provided multiple relevant appendices in addition to the visitation report (e.g., Taipei Women's Detention Center), allowing the public to more completely view the visitation committee's meeting minutes as well as meeting materials acquired or provided by members during meetings, which contributes to enhancing the transparency of visitation activities and is commendable.

   • (5) The appendix of the Yunlin Prison external visitation report is worthy of reference for visitation committees of other correctional institutions

     The Yunlin Prison external visitation committee broke away from established formats, proposing its visitation report within the appendix by clearly listing this quarter's visitation priorities, detailing visitation contents, and putting forward specific and rich recommendations so that the outside world can clearly understand the committee's visitation status. It is worthy of reference and reading for external visitation committees of other correctional institutions.

2. Expectations for enhancing the operational transparency of external visitation committees

   • (1) It remains difficult for readers to determine whether some external visitation reports were personally written by members of the external visitation committees:

     From the 2021 Q4 reports, it appears that the external visitation reports of some correctional institutions are still compiled from meeting minutes (e.g., Taipei Women's Detention Center, Yunlin Second Prison), making it impossible to determine from the content whether the visitation reports were truly written by members of the external visitation committees.

   • (2) Reports rarely mention the handling of petitions from detained persons, making it difficult to confirm whether detained persons clearly understand that external visitation committees accept petitions and the related petition handling procedures:

     Only a minority of correctional institutions in the 2021 Q4 reports mentioned the handling status of petitions accepted from detained persons (e.g., Changhua Prison), making it difficult to understand whether each correctional institution has transparent mechanisms enabling detained persons to understand petition procedures and whether external visitation committees respond to relevant petitions. For external visitation committees of correctional institutions that accept petitions, how they respond to detained persons' petitions to ensure they understand and are convinced that the handling of petitions is fair and reasonable remains to be observed.

   • (3) The presentation format of some visitation reports still makes it difficult for the public to understand visiting members' visitation content:

     Some contents of the 2021 Q4 reports still fail to make the public understand the content inspected by visiting members, such as statements like "regarding the counseling of disabled detained persons, digital communication equipment mobile visits, and the provision of barrier-free space facilities, the institution did very well and with dedication," without specifically describing how the institution constructed barrier-free space facilities or counseled disabled detained persons.

   • (4) Members' supervisory role is unapparent, reducing visitation reports to "Q&A collections":

     The "Visitation Content and Handling Status" section of external visitation reports should outline the sequence of events and handling processes of the incidents inspected by the visitation committee. However, in some 2021 Q4 reports, the contents of the case subject and handling status remain highly similar. Taking Taoyuan Prison's visitation report as an example, the case subject is "Recommendations on Individualized Treatment for Drug Offenders in Your Institution," while "Visitation Content and Handling Status" records "The physical courses originally planned by your institution were suspended due to the pandemic. Are there subsequent remedial measures or refinement actions to meet the purpose of the courses planned by your institution?", failing to present the sequence of events and handling processes observed by the visitation committee regarding individualized treatment for drug offenders during the visitation.