60. Juvenile detention houses are accustomed to using assignment to particular wards as a means of discipline, in order to compel the delinquent juveniles to engage in self-examination. While they also have done their best to improve the facilities inside these wards, the assignment to so-called “delinquency wards,” “observation wards” and such penalties cannot be seen as disciplinary models developed based on an educational philosophy, but come from a disciplinary management and punishment perspective adopted by adult prisons. This is against the intent of the Statute on the Establishment of Juvenile Detention Houses which expressly defines that the measures to be imposed on juvenile inmates violating disciplinary rules of the detention house should be limited to reprimands and labor services. Furthermore, the availability of a delinquency ward or observation ward, length of period for confinement in an observation ward or delinquency ward, and mode of observation vary across juvenile detention houses. Some juvenile detention houses even decide the length of the confinement period based on a score system. When being confined to a delinquency ward or observation ward, the juvenile cannot attend classes in school. His/her interest in and right to learning is deprived. Therefore, such practices could hardly be appropriate. Upon investigation and follow-up by the Control Yuan, the Ministry of Justice issued a decree on October 23, 2019 to its subsidiary units to strictly prohibit any punishments other than those defined by the Statute on the Establishment of Juvenile Detention Houses. 61. In consideration of the nation’s obligation to provide special protection and education to juveniles, the Agency of Corrections should provide a separate system for juveniles to fully attend to their living needs. However, with respect to juveniles, the correctional institutions still apply the same practices applicable to adult inmates. The Statute on the Establishment of Juvenile Detention Houses even says that juveniles should “prepare clothes, quilts and procure daily necessities on their own.” As juvenile inmates are not paid to work, many of them struggle when serving sentences if their family is poor or they have received no relief from others. The Agency of Corrections should review and improve this situation promptly. 62. Juvenile detention houses often detain juvenile offenders currently under trial. However, these juvenile inmates are often excluded from those who receive reimbursement of the national health insurance premium, and thus they need to bear the cost by themselves. They are often unable to pay the national health insurance premium, and they owe for medical expenses as a result. The Agency of Corrections should consider adequate reimbursement of medical expenses incurred by juvenile inmates so that they may be protected under the national health insurance. 63. The Juvenile Justice Act of Taiwan aims to construct the nation’s protection mechanism for delinquent juveniles based on the “concentric circle theory” 30

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