Development of penitentiary thought

　　In early days of the Japanese rule, prison administration was mainly conducted with temporary orders, while most of the facilities were temples and warehouses from the Ch'ing dynasty, reused as prisons. In Meiji 33, all prisons in Taiwan were incorporated under the management of the Governor-General Office; two years later the system and organization were defined to govern all prison buildings in Taiwan. After Meiji 36, the temporary prisons were gradually abolished, and new ones were constructed. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, the concept of prison was developing in the West, and it took hundreds of years to consolidate the modern prison form and model, which then affected the whole world. In the early 20th century, with the modern prisons established by the Japanese in Taiwan, such developments were certainly connected with the developmental history of building prisons around the world. Thus, before we discuss he historical prison buildings in Taiwan, it is necessary to research the development of Western prisons.

（The prisoners wore shackles on publicly.）
（picture source：Planning and Research Report on Renovation and Reuse of the Old Chiayi Prison as A Historical Monument of Chiayi City）

　　The existing prison systems in various countries originate from the results of reform from the West over hundreds of years. The congregation of convicts for different crimes in one place for incarceration has become a punitive measure that is approved by the whole world. At the end of the 19th century, the prison concept and actual cases began to appear in the West, but there were still fines and corporal punishment. Some institutions also had incarceration, but only temporarily, for suspects awaiting sentencing. Until 1800, the only alternative to corporal punishment in European countries was banishment; but this was not for humane reasons, but rather for the sake of economic benefit and convenience. In 18th century, for a brief time there was also the surprising method of punishment – prison ships. The ships contained a high number of criminals that should be banished, but these ships lacked basic amenities, and caused many to die on these ships.

In the 16th century, Western countries used cruel methods of punishment. However, after a long history of development, the prison concept gradually became prevalent and became the primary method of punishing convicts. In this process, some Western reformers and groups made significant contributions to the incarceration system.

 In the Middle Ages, the system of serfdom was prevalent, whereas Western Europe had mostly became free of it in the late Middle Ages; farmers either owned or rented land in order to farm it. However, due to the privatization of farmland, there began to be many poor people or homeless people, and the problems they created began to seriously affect social order. Therefore, the English government began to use some simple places as asylums to incarcerate them or to teach them work skills. English King Henry VIII implemented many reforms after 1530, including the break of the Anglican Church from the Roman Catholic Church. The closing of Catholic convents increased the number of homeless people, and indirectly created the need for more asylums. Early on, these institutes were referred to as "asylums" or "correctional facilities." After this, not only in England, but in the century after 1560, it spread to the whole European continent. Early forms of incarceration can be seen as the precursor to the modern prison. However, these asylums do not have separate cells, and primarily had used the instructional concepts of the "instructional places" or "correctional homes."

In the 18th century, the original concept and concrete design of single cells originates from Catholic humanitarianism, but since it was too long ago, there is no clear evidence to prove whether it was from punishment and cultivation or solitary reformation through religious visions.

　　During the Enlightenment era, there began to be philosophical movements that called for punitive laws to be enhanced with humanitarianism; this also contributed to the rise of the modern prison. Cesare Beccaria, the most significant figure at the time, published On Crimes and Punishments in 1764. In this renowned work, he provided strong arguments for the abolishment of cruel punishments, which were primarily focused on the excess of the death penalty and barbaric corporal punishments.

　　John Howard was inspired by the thought of Beccaria, and he saw for himself the terrifying conditions of the English prison and prison ships; he wanted to reform. He not only made investigations, but also entered the English Parliament with the help of William Blackstone and William Aidan, in order to legislate reform, and passed a "reformatory" bill that included solitary incarcerating and the hiring of prisoners.

　　Although this bill was never systematically administered and realized, but it had successfully improved several local prisons and established new asylums, making them prisons with the single-cell facilities.

In the last twenty-five years of 18th century, many single-celled prisons were constructed in Europe, especially in Switzerland. This concept has significantly influenced reformers, because the Philadelphia Prison Association has studied and praised it.

In 19th century Europe the prison system matured; the prison methods of different countries affected each other, and affected by the American Pennsylvania System and the Auburn System, and there are further improvements and combinations, creating a series of experiments and reform.

　　The level system created by English martial officer Michael Norel was effective in terms of reformation. Crofton implemented this system in 1855 in Irish prisons and was very successful, thus it was also called the "Irish level system." It primarily evaluates the prison terms of inmates, dividing the terms into different levels, which inspires inmates to cultivate themselves, to trade good behavior for more freedom. Different countries have different levels; for example, Irish prisons are divided into four levels：

　　Level 1, punitive

　　This is the most stringent, with solitary incarceration, lack of better treatment, no participation in work. Even though they can have letters, but they cannot communicate in prison; if there are violations, the time for their solitary confinement will be lengthened.

（The prison ship of U.K.）
（picture source：Planning and Research Report on Renovation and Reuse of the Old Chiayi Prison as A Historical Monument of Chiayi City）

　　Level 2, improvement

　　Good behavior allows one to enter into the level of mixed living (improvement stage). This level emphasizes instruction, education, work, or sports; during the day they work at the factory, and at night they are in solitary confinement or categorized mixed living.

　　Level 3, experimental

　　Even more freedom, but also requires inmates to have more self-control.

　　Level 4, parole stage

　　The highest level coincides with the time for parole, during which there are regular auditing, to determine continued parole or revocation of parole.

　　Important reforms began in the Meiji years, but were in fact related to the close interactions with the West after Japan concluded its isolationist policies. Due to increased interaction, Japan had to deal with foreigners who committed crimes in Japan. In the early stages, Western countries claimed that Japan had old and barbaric punishments, and used unfair "extraterritoriality" to deal with crimes committed by foreign nationals in Japan. However, with the heightened call for the abolishment of unequal treaties, there were also reforms to improve national politics and abolish the unequal extraterritoriality.

　　English and French influence in early reform： In pursuit of further judicial and prison reform, they sent Warden Administrator Obara Shigenari to English colonies in Southeast Asia for onsite evaluations; based on the evaluation results, the Japanese government established and promulgated "Prison Regulations and Diagrams," and this was the set of first modern prison regulations in modern Japanese history.

　　The influence of German prison studies：The government hired the experienced German judicial expert Kurt von Seebach as a consultant. The next year, it assisted the establishment of "prison official practice office" and organized the "prison evaluation commission" to evaluate the prison system and supervise the operational conditions at prisons.

　　In Meiji 32, a German expert in criminal law, Karl Erwiderung von Crusen, was invited to assist with regulating prison operations and policing activities, and reconstructed the warden practice bureau, which was ended due to the death of his predecessor, into a police prison school.

　　After the Constitution was established in Meiji 41, major changes were also made in terms of prison regulations. The new "Prison Law" was approved by the Empire Diet, and it was promulgated and implemented in April. That same year, the Ministry of Justice also used it to establish the "Detailed Rules for Implementation of Prison Laws." At the time, this new set of prison laws was influenced by German judicial theory and established in imitation of German regulations. It also borrowed the judicial legislation visions and techniques in other advanced countries, and the content is different from existing prisons.

　　The prison system of the Ching Dynasty tended to follow that of the Ming Dynasty, it is under the central jurisdiction of the Department of Punishment's "Department of Punishment Prison," and the local jurisdiction of "municipal prison," "state prison," and "bureau prison," but it made no distinctions between types and severity of crimes; everyone was incarcerated based on "mixed living," and did not change until the end of the Ching Dynasty. The reason for improvement was same as in Japan, due to the unequal treaties with the West. In order to be freed from them, prison reforms were proposed, and in Kuanghsu 28 there began to be criminal reformatories at various places. However, unlike Japan's direct introduction and hiring of Western professionals for assistance, the Ching Dynasty indirectly used Japanese legal experts to move these Western concepts to China. The "day and night cell separation system" at the first prison in the capital was used as a model for the rest of the province.

　　Before Japanese rule in Taiwan：During the Ching Dynasty, Taiwanese prisons were divided in terms of administration into three levels of county prison, state prison, and provincial prison. Of which, the county and state prison, and the severity of the term is divided into two types: the first is "prison" for those with heavy sentences, and the other type is "temporary detention centers" for those with light terms."

　　Discussion of Taiwan's prison system under Japanese rule：　　

• Mixed living.
• Solitary confinement is only for those for whom the death sentence has been announced or those who are being punished.
• Prison work is a part of regular correction.
• Enforced silence.
• Emphasis on instruction work.
• Provision of adequate exercise time.

　　Regulations completed in Meiji 41, such as "Taiwan Prison Order," "Prison Law," "Detailed Rules for Implementation of Prison Laws," so the prison system is different from that in Meiji 32. Regulations about prison systems and spatial usage are as follows：

• Incarceration classified by type, age, and gender.
• Mixed system of mixing living and solitary confinement, and solitary confinement is divided into day-and-night solitary confinement and night solitary confinement.
• A strong sense of "level system," where inmates are divided into levels based on their terms and conditions.
• Solitary confinement.
• Maintained silence.
• Prison labor is conducted classified by cells, types, and age.