Taiwan demotes prison officials after deadly hostage crisis, TAIPEI: Three Taiwanese prison officials have been removed from their positions over their handling of a jail standoff that saw six inmates take hostages before committing suicide, the Ministry of Justice said in a report on Friday (Feb 27).
The warden and deputy warden of the southern Kaohsiung city prison were demoted to mid-ranking positions at the Agency of Corrections, while the head guard was reassigned to a school, the ministry said.
Inmates feigned illness to take two lower-ranking prison staff hostage, before breaking into a weapons storage room at the prison in a dramatic bid for freedom and in protest at alleged unfair trials.
"Warden Chen Shih-chih was not aware of a major incident happening in the prison for 30 long minutes, which showed his poor leadership. (He was) unable to command the system and control the situation in the prison," the ministry said.
The prisoners seized rifles and handguns and later took Chen, his deputy and the head guard captive in the Feb 11 incident.
They fatally shot themselves inside the prison early the next morning after a tense 14-hour standoff with police, but all hostages were unharmed, authorities said......Read More.
The warden and deputy warden of the southern Kaohsiung city prison were demoted to mid-ranking positions at the Agency of Corrections, while the head guard was reassigned to a school, the ministry said.
Inmates feigned illness to take two lower-ranking prison staff hostage, before breaking into a weapons storage room at the prison in a dramatic bid for freedom and in protest at alleged unfair trials.
"Warden Chen Shih-chih was not aware of a major incident happening in the prison for 30 long minutes, which showed his poor leadership. (He was) unable to command the system and control the situation in the prison," the ministry said.
The prisoners seized rifles and handguns and later took Chen, his deputy and the head guard captive in the Feb 11 incident.
They fatally shot themselves inside the prison early the next morning after a tense 14-hour standoff with police, but all hostages were unharmed, authorities said......Read More.
