I was just thinking that maybe the OP could practice some deep-breathing/meditation exercises prior to going, so that he could do them while in “rehab”. It might help pass the time.
Jello, how’s your wife holding up? Will she get out before you go in? Again, wishing you both all the best.
[quote]If they took it to trial, you’d have a criminal charge and WOULD get deported afterward if you were found guilty, as well as a considerably stiffer sentence, probably.[/quote]Deportation does not apply for holders of a JFRV even if you tested positive for using heroin or cocaine. Jello mentioned that he is married to a local, didn’t he?
Both Jello and his wife were caught lying during the investigation as they both tried to take full blame for the “crime.” Look at it this way. It’s saving all of us some tax dollars… There really isn’t a need for a trial since there is sufficient evidence that they are both guilty to an extent or another.
“Rehab” for a gram of hash is sadly hilarious, but that’s the way it goes in these parts of the world.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Next time you’ll know to hide your stash better. 
You have my sympathy.
Well, if I knew what to expect, I’d have shared it, but all I can say to the OP is keep your chin up; this might seem like an eternity at first but 6-8 weeks will be over before too long, and then you can move on, and will have quite a story to tell. Best of luck to you, mate.
6 to 8 weeks is a light sentence under current laws, but its a long long time if its yourself.
Best of luck with that.
If he was sentenced by a judge to anything less then six months I think you can pay your way out of jail. But this being “rehab” theres likely no such recourse.
Maybe some forumosans can visit. The F.com “Grass Mountain benevolent society”?
I want to make “Free Jello” T-shirts but I’m afraid of annoying people following me home with empty bowls and spoons.
They’re sending this guy and his wife to jail because of something he was doing privately in his house with no threat or danger to his neighbors or community?
Something that is legal in some countries? Meanwhile corrupt fuckers are filching millions of NT., harming animals, and building shoddy and dangerous shit around the clock here?
The only thing I think you did wrong was to open your door to the police when they came over.
"FREE FUCKING JELLO!!""[quote=“tommy525”]6 to 8 weeks is a light sentence under current laws, but its a long long time if its yourself.
Best of luck with that.
If he was sentenced by a judge to anything less then six months I think you can pay your way out of jail. But this being “rehab” theres likely no such recourse.
Maybe some forumosans can visit. The F.com “Grass Mountain benevolent society”?[/quote]
Tommy you ever spend A DAY in a fucking cell?
Sorry T, but 8 weeks of your life gone for some bullshit that should be fined at best is a long time locked inside from seeing the sky for my indian blood.
Yea, I learned that lesson when I was 18. Was living in a cheap apartment in San Diego, as my parents had thrown me out of the house. Sitting in the living room one day drinking cocktails and blasting rock and roll when I hear a knock on the door. Two cops standing there. “Hi, we heard complaints about the noise,” they say, “can we come inside?” I’m fairly drunk and stoned and don’t know what to say. I open the door. They step into the vestibule. “Sorry about that I answer,” and go turn down/off the music. They peer about inside and start wandering about. One sees a bong on the kitchen counter and goes over to inspect it. “Sir, we’re going to have search the premises. Under Code Section 423 blah, blah blah the discovery of this marijuana device in plain view gives us probable cause to conduct a blah blah blah.” “Umm, umm. . .” It’s a little hazy after that, but I recall they did search my apartment without a warrant, found the three ridiculously skinny pot plants I was trying to grow in the closet with a houseplant growlight, which would never amount to anything anyway as my delinquent “friend”/party mate had topped them mercilessly, so they were only a handful of leaves and stems. But it didn’t matter. They threw me in the slammer overnight. I got a court appointed attorney and since the “crime” was so pitiful and I was just a dumb teen who had been violated by a couple of cops without a warrant, the judge sentenced me to return home to live with my parents, if they would permit it, and comply with a curfew, which I did (except that I’d then sneak out after curfew).
Anyway, sorry for inserting that seemingly irrelevant story. But I wanted to agree that one should NEVER PERMIT A COP TO SET FOOT IN YOUR HOUSE WITHOUT A WARRANT, even if they act all nice and polite and friendly (which they will; they’re sneaky bastards). Always demand to see the warrant first and inspect it to be sure it appears to be proper. Cops are tricky fuckers and will lie and violate your rights to get their quota of busts.
But, OP, I’m really sorry about your situation. That sucks. Without a trial even. Hard to believe that’s legal even in Taiwan. Have you confirmed with a Taiwan criminal attorney that you really must comply? If so, best of luck to you. I’m sure you’ll survive fine with nothing worse than extreme boredom and the humiliation of having to grovel to a bunch of idiots. Oh well, at least, as others have noted it appears you may not be deported, which is one small saving grace. Gotta luck on the bright side, right?
[quote=“Bubba 2 Guns”][quote=“tommy525”]6 to 8 weeks is a light sentence under current laws, but its a long long time if its yourself.
Best of luck with that.
If he was sentenced by a judge to anything less then six months I think you can pay your way out of jail. But this being “rehab” theres likely no such recourse.
Maybe some forumosans can visit. The F.com “Grass Mountain benevolent society”?[/quote]
Tommy you ever spend A DAY in a fucking cell?
Sorry T, but 8 weeks of your life gone for some bullshit that should be fined at best is a long time locked inside from seeing the sky for my Indian blood.[/quote]
I did say its a LONG time. Id have trouble spending one day locked up.
That is pretty cool. Sounds like you’re both lucky people in your relationship.
Yes, as MT and Bubba pointed out, letting the cops in your door or talking to them period is the single big mistake that has occurred in just about every criminal law case I’ve seen go badly over the years in Taiwan. Let the professionals do the talking.
I have a friend who did “rehab” a few months ago. He actually did it voluntarily. He was already planning to leave Taiwan, and could have done so freely, but chose to do it so that he would have the option to return to Taiwan in the future. (If he had left and not come back, a warrant would have been issued and he then would not have been able to return.) He also was basically a victim of circumstance. As youre wife’s experience bears out, “rehab” is basically just time in jail. They’ll probably put you in with other foreigners. My friend shared a cell with a Korean white collar defendant in a pending criminal case and one or two others. Take lots of good reading material. Breath and don’t freak out. Hire a lawyer and have him or her come visit you periodically. (Though they may not allow this because you’re technically not yet accused of a crime – you’re being given the option of rehab instead of facing criminal indictment.) At least have a lawyer monitoring your case. I wish a knew a good reasonably priced lawyer with experience handling this particular kind of case, but I don’t. I know several good lawyers, but they’re expensive and they don’t specialize in criminal law. If someone does know a lawyer who handles criminal matters, it would be great if they posted their info.
All else aside, if I were in this situation, I’d be pissed at my friend for having a girlfriend who ratted me out.
In any case, be strong. It sucks now, but you will have quite a tale to tell after the “rehab” is overwith.
They did have a search warrant so they would’ve searched the place anyway. The mistake was confessing to it and not getting a lawyer right away who could do the talking for us. We both lied right away to save each other and they of course picked up on that and told us if we just told the truth we could go home after. They were lying and took us right to jail after the statements. Looking back on it now, I realize how stupid we were for believing them, but again, we were kind of freaked the hell out.
Thanks for the all the kind words. Really depressing having to go through this and most of you really are comforting and I appreciate it. To the others, I know what I did was wrong and I’m not at all saying I shouldn’t be punished and this isn’t fair or anything like that. I’m simply just looking for support. The only person I know in this world who could make everything better for me is sitting in jail right now and that really sucks for me.
Take care and thanks again.
I feel for ya. Clean piss test and they send you to ‘rehab’.
There’s a lot of racist Taiwanese that don’t want their daughter dating a foreigner, I run into that a lot down south. They have no problems with their daughter running with wannabe gangbangers looking for action, but god forbid they are seen with a polite, educated, and nice foreigner.
That was pretty low of the girl to rat you guys out, I honestly don’t know what she has to gain from doing so. Meanwhile groups of Taiwanese punks are allowed to literally murder people on the streets with baseball bats and the cops turn a blind eye and pretend it didn’t happen.
I seriously doubt this would have turned out the same if you were both Taiwanese.
Anyways…
Stay strong, you got some folks thinking about you.
This might not be “helpful” so much, but have you contacted your embassy/consultate/rep office? Even though if you’re here on JFRV and you feel like you’re Taiwanese in a way, you still hold a foreign passport, right? It might not be half bad to get the diplomatic folks involved. It seems to me that putting someone into a system where they don’t speak the language at all is rather excessive. There’s a reason why they have a facility for foreigners, right? I’m not sure how much good they would be but in this sort of situation it’s always good to have someone not on the Taiwanese side know where you are and what’s going on with you.
[quote=“Jello”]They did have a search warrant so they would’ve searched the place anyway.[/quote]What did the police have in the way of probable cause in order to get a judge to authorize a search warrant? What did the rat girlfriend see, or what did you allow her to see that would give her any information that the police could use in order to secure a probable cause search warrant? 
[quote=“Homey”]
I seriously doubt this would have turned out the same if you were both Taiwanese.
Anyways…
Stay strong, you got some folks thinking about you.[/quote]
Not too sure about that. Most of the people in the jail are Taiwanese. I think the police and everyone involved were just doing their jobs. Sucks for us, but the law is the law. Thanks for the kind words!
As another poster pointed out, there is a “foreigner” cell there where I will most likely be in. My lawyer and some guy who was in there a while back told me that someone will be able to translate for us. The other guy who went in is Taiwanese but he told me last night that we might actually have it a little easier. Not expected to sing military songs and all that fun stuff. I think that AIT’s official stance is that they can’t interfere at all when a law is broken. They can only make sure I’m being treated fairly and I did break the law.
From what I understand, she went home that night and wrote in her journal that she was at our house (used our names) and that we were doing drugs and her dad read it. He made her tell him where we lived and then he went to the police. I’m not too sure if he brought the journal with him or if the daughter came with him but that’s all you need for a search warrant I guess. When they came over they told us that the warrant was issued because we were selling cocaine so either the dad made that up to the cops or she said it for some reason.
Have they told you what you’ll be allowed to bring, like reading material? I know someone earlier said no, but I’m wondering whether the authorities have given you any info on this. That would make a HUGE difference in passing the time, IMO.
Not that your interested in doing so, but it sounds to me that someone lied to the cops here. If you in fact had no cocaine lying around, then the entire “cocaine” part is totally untrue: could you sue for slander or “perjuring” or whatever it’s called when you lie to the police? Seems someone lied to the police to get them out to your place, and it seems like it’s not a misunderstanding or exaggeration, unless the daughter didn’t know what she was talkin’ about. I’ve got some friends who are in court for silly shit like slander and outrageous accusations, and they can and have countersued (though I admit to not knowing the basis of their countersuit).
Not that your interested in doing so, but it sounds to me that someone lied to the cops here. If you in fact had no cocaine lying around, then the entire “cocaine” part is totally untrue: could you sue for slander or “perjuring” or whatever it’s called when you lie to the police? Seems someone lied to the police to get them out to your place, and it seems like it’s not a misunderstanding or exaggeration, unless the daughter didn’t know what she was talkin’ about. I’ve got some friends who are in court for silly shit like slander and outrageous accusations, and they can and have countersued (though I admit to not knowing the basis of their countersuit).[/quote]
They had a warrant and they did find illegal substances on the premises. Whether it is coke, meth, hero, hash or what have you, it doesn’t make a difference as far as the warrant is concerned. The fact that they found hash and not coke only means less time in the hole. Had they found coke or hero, you’d be looking at four to six months of “rehab.” The police had a warrant and in the end it is justified because they did find drugs.
He has the right to sue, but it wouldn’t lead to anything other than a chance to be sued back for x,y,z. While his claim wouldn’t see the light of day, he would only be taking a chance to be in more trouble based on more lies. I’ve been working for a Taiwanese law firm for the last nine years and trust me when I say don’t go there. Don’t even think about it.
Yeah of course it’s much more than it’s worth, are in the end he’d probably have more headache on his hands. But is there even a law against false accusations in Taiwan? Or can people pretty much say whatever they want, and get people in trouble?
Best to do the time, get over it and get on with it. Its tough and sad. I felt moved when he said the only person who can make him feel better is herself in jail.
Too bad both of you took the fall. Both of you should have denied any knowledge (hindsight being 20/20 and all that).
Get in , get out, write a book.