Chiou Ho-shun Wore 2-Kilogram Shackles for 18 Years—An Interview with Hsu Tzu-chiang on Leg Irons

▶ Living with Shackles

In the past, prosecutors often sought the death penalty under the now-abolished Statute for Punishment of Bandits. Anyone sentenced to death was required to wear leg irons. The very first thing one learned from cellmates after being shackled was how to put on and take off trousers. The shackles rusted easily and required scrubbing every day. If not properly cleaned, the rust would wear through socks and abrade the ankles directly. Weighing between two and three kilograms, these shackles meant that in the past, death-row prisoners had to walk from the detention facility to the execution ground, dragging their leg irons along the way. All through the night, everyone in the prison would listen to the heavy clanking of shackles gradually fading into the distance, knowing that someone had "gone ahead."