Police Killer an Inmate at Tainan's Minimum Security Prison 林嫌在明德外役監服刑 返家探親逾期未歸

The murder suspect of the two police offiers, is an inmate at Tainan's Mingde Minimum-Security Prison, and was supposed to return to prison at around 2p.m. on the 15th but he never did. 

Huang Wei-che, Tainan Mayor: “Let's first observe a minute's silence for the two officers who died heroically in the line of duty yesterday.”

Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che led Police Chief Fang Yang-ning and others to observe a minute of silence before the press conference. Huang said that although the case was solved, he still felt heavy when he thought about the unfortunate deaths of police officers Tu Ming-cheng and Tsao Jui-chieh.

Prosecutors arrived at the funeral home to investigate. On the other end, the arrested suspect surnamed Lin was taken to Tucheng High School where the car was abandoned, to simulate his crime. The Corrections Agency confirmed Lin is an inmate at Mingde Minimum-Security Prison. He was permitted to leave the prison and returned home to visit relatives on Aug. 13. He was supposed to return at 2 p.m. on the 15th but disappeared. A report was then sent to the Tainan District Prosecutors Office informing them of an escape. 

Chiang Chen-heng, Deputy Warden, Mingde Minimum-Security Prison: “We contacted his family because he was late returning to find out his situation. His family said he told them he would come back when he went out in the morning.”

According to the prison authorities, the suspect Lin applied to return home in mid-March this year, and returned to prison on time. They didn't feel any abnormalities before his escape.

Chiang Chen-heng, Deputy Warden, Mingde Minimum-Security Prison: “He can file to get transferred here if he meets the regulations. After being selected, an inmate can finish doing their time here. We also continue to strengthen some support and coaching classes for inmates.”

The Corrections Agency responded that after the suspect Lin escaped, the case is then taken over by the prosecutor and the police. Initially, it seemed that the handoff process was fine, but it will be reviewed and improved on in the future. Minimum security prison housed 11,323 people from 2011 to August 2022. In the past ten years, a total of 45 inmates escaped after not returning from a home visit or left the prison without permission in the past 10 years. 

台南市長黃偉哲率眾默哀：「我們還是要先為昨天兩位，英勇殉職的我們的同仁，先默哀1分鐘。」

召開破案記者會前，黃偉哲帶領警察局長方仰寧等人默哀1分鐘。黃偉哲說雖然破案，但想到不幸殉職的警員凃明誠與曹瑞傑，他的心情還是很沉重。

上午檢察官也抵達殯儀館相驗；另一頭，被逮捕的林姓嫌犯則帶往棄車地點土城高中模擬。矯正署也證實，林嫌是明德外役監獄的收容人，因符合規定申請返家探親，這個月13日離開後，15日下午2時該返回卻消失，被函送台南地檢署。

明德外役監副典獄長江振亨說：「見他逾時未歸，所以我們立即連繫他的家屬，了解他在外面的情形，家人表示他早上要出門的時候有說要回來。」

獄方表示，林嫌今年3月中也曾申請返家探親，準時返監，脫逃前沒感覺有異狀。

江振亨說：「他符合規定，他可以提報調這裡，經過遴選審查以後，可以到我們監獄來執行，那爾後也會再繼續加強一些輔導考核。」

矯正署也回應，林嫌脫逃後由檢察官跟警方處理，初步看來處理流程沒問題，後續會視情況檢討改進。而統計民國100年到111年8月，遴選外役監受刑人1萬1323人，近10年返家探視未歸或擅離作業處所者共45人。