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Abstract

Huei-Ting Huang, Ying-Chung Chen

The punishment of imprisonment should be restricted to the deprivation of one? liberty only.
Other rights shall be retained except for those necessarily limited by laws. The functions of penal
imprisonment involve rehabilitating offenders. Prisoner attachment to family and friends is one of
the most effective ways of rehabilitation, and keeping in touch with those outside the prison walls
through letters is the most common method. Based on current laws in Taiwan, prisoners can receive
and send approved letters while serving their sentence. However, to read and examine prisoners??letters by prison officers may infringe prisoners??privacy. If there are no regulations or any other
reasonable reasons to examine and read their letters, it will violate the principle of legal reservation,
the principle of clarity and definiteness of law, the principle of proportionality. In order to maintain
facility security, order and control, the prison authorities have set up several regulations. However, all
regulations must obey the above-mentioned principles, especially when the limitations of prisoners??rights are involved. Hence, prisoners??right to confidentiality of legal correspondence should be
enacted into law. Additionally, based on Prison Act in Taiwan, if the content is suspicious of violating
regulations of prison, the inmate has to delete the suspected part before sending. When the prison
authorities assess whether the content violates regulations of prison, they will refer to Enforcement
Rules of the Prison serving Act. However, based on the Act, the term "risks of disrupting prison
discipline" is either too ambiguous or out of date. Therefore, it is necessary to amend the article of
Prison Act. Only when the content of letters poses threats to security and order of institutions can
the authorities hold the letters. Last but not least, according to the principle of proportionality, in
order to balance inmates??human rights and the purposes of imprisonment, it suggests that while
prison officers examine and read inmates??letters, the prison authorities should set up different
clear regulations between special and general letters, between probation and cessation of sending
and receiving letters, and between letters and packages. Humane conditions and treatments should
be given to inmates to help them nurse their responsibilities, which not only assists them to be
reintegrated into society after release but also prevents them from committing crimes in the future.
Therefore, all of inmates??rights shall be retained except for those necessarily restricted by laws.

Keywords:Inmates, confidentiality of legal correspondence, freedom of expression,
prison discipline, the principle of legal reservation, the principle of
clarity and definiteness of law, the principle of proportionality.

The Discussion of Inmates Right to Send and Receive Letters: From the Viewpoints of the Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 756 5