Man dies in correctional custody

Legal Military Conscription
1

It seems someone was sent to correctional custody for bringing a cell phone into base 2 days before his discharge, and he died from being overworked or something.

This has made rather big news (if that means anything considering in Taiwan anything makes big news), and the MND has decided to close all correctional custody facilities in the country and end the practice completely.

What do you think? Me personally there are some people who really deserves it (like one guy who points guns at people like it’s a toy during watch details, and has real issue with authorities) but I think the whole practice is too easily abused, which is probably why they decided to close it completely (since they know they can’t really control their subordinates as much as they think they could).

A bunch of high level Army brass got demerits as a result of this and a bunch of people are getting court martial too.

2

Few highlights:
The guy who ordered the lockup spent the nights in KTVs, playing mayong -forbidden to the military- and other amusements. we know because he posted on FB about his exploits.

The usual penalty, as per military code, for carrying a cellphone is extra exercise practice -more situps, kind of thing. But because the guy was exceptionally good at physical endeavors, well, the boss decided to up the ante… which is itself illegal.

Even so, 30 days for this kind of punishment, in a tiny room without even a fan in this heat, had the obvious result: guy lasted 3 days, collapsed at the fourth, died a couple days later. BTW, there is also question about his autopsy results, which were expedited.

In summary: this stinks.

3

Doesn’t surprise me. They used to lose 50 kids a year through sunstroke till the mothers got involved.

4

Taiwanes soldier was murdered by Taiwanese government.
By Dragonhu1858 | Posted July 15, 2013 | Taipei, Taiwan

CNN PRODUCER NOTE

The Taiwanese army yesterday apologized for the death of a soldier and promised to punish personnel responsible for the incident.

Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘), a soldier performing compulsory service in the army’s sixth regiment, died three days before he was due to complete his term of service.

The army said Hung was scheduled to leave the military on Saturday.

On June 23 he was found carrying a cellphone with a camera and an MP3 player after returning from vacation, and was placed in confinement on June 28.

The army said Hung’s confinement ended on Wednesday last week. At 4:30pm that day, he joined a 45-minute routine training session with fellow soldiers, which included running, push-ups, sit-ups and other activities.

At 5:30pm, Hung told his supervisors that he felt “very sick.”

He was sent to a military hospital in Hsinchu County and was later transferred to the Tri-Service General Hospital, where he died the next day, the army said.

Hung’s parents believe their son died from heat exhaustion.

They said Hung, who was sick when placed in confinement, was asked to join a training session in very hot weather immediately upon his release, adding that the army is responsible for his death.

Military spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) told a press conference that Minister of National Defense Kao Hua-chu (高華柱) is very angry about the incident and has ordered the army to investigate it and seriously punish those responsible.

During the press conference, Vice Commander of the Army Lieutenant-General Wu You-ming (吳有明) bowed and apologized for the incident.

He said an initial probe found several problems with Hung’s treatment. The regulations used for his confinement were questionable; personnel monitoring Hung’s unit during the training exercise neglected their duties; personnel dealing with his emergency treatment were untrained; and his unit’s training regime was not adjusted in accordance with the heat.

Wu said an investigation is ongoing.

Meanwhile, in other news, in response to local media reports that allege Taiwanese film director Doze Niu’s (鈕承澤) new film, Military Paradise (軍中樂園), was at least 20 percent funded by Chinese capital, Lo said the military was not previously aware of this as Niu had not informed them when applying for military support for his film.

The military has decided to stop assisting Niu with his latest film project and is to take legal action against him for allowing a Chinese photographer to use false documents to enter a naval base in southern Taiwan on June 1 on a location-scouting trip.

Additional reporting by CNA
This article is cited from Taipei Times
ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1005438

5

that’s what happens when you try to be an upstanding person in KMT’s military

6

a) It wasn’t murder
b) The government had nothing to do with it

Apart from that, spot on.

7

a) It wasn’t murder
b) The government had nothing to do with it

Apart from that, spot on.[/quote]

I am glad to see the accuracy and quality of Taiwanese journalism is improving. :roflmao: :roflmao:

8

a) It wasn’t murder
b) The government had nothing to do with it

Apart from that, spot on.[/quote]

actually it was.

Master Sergeants Fan Zuo-Sian (范佐憲) and Chen Yi-Ren (陳以人) forced Comany Commander Xu Xin-Zhen 徐信正 to punish Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘). They falsified reports saying Hung brought a a smart phone into the camp, but in fact he only brought a camera feature phone. They said it’s a smart phone to make it seem more serious, and said Hung often plays with his smartphone without regard to his commanding officers.

They then proceed to place him under solitary confinement, which is too severe a punishment even for constantly using smartphones. To be placed into solitary confinement, the military must run a physical fitness exam to make sure the safety of the punished, which usually takes a couple of weeks. Hung was scheduled to be discharged less than a week. Master Sergeant Fan was so determined to have Hung punished, he begged the personnels in charge of doing the physical exam to sign off in 1 day, and went off base to buy drinks to treat the staff that signed off on the report.

Aside from the solitary confinement, Hung was subjected to harsh physical training in sweltering heat as punishment. The weather was above the recommended temp for outdoor training. Hung was denied water. He soon injured himself and was forced to continue. He asked for medical assistance several times when his asthma acted up and had trouble breathing but was denied medical assistance. When his body temperature went over 40 degrees and his muscles began to dissolve, he again repeatedly asked for help and received none. It doesn’t seem like negligent homicide to me. They have taken extraordinary steps to make sure Hung receives the most severe treatment and denied him medical assistance every step of the way.

Master Sergeant Fan was so determined to have Hung punished, because in a supposedly “confidential” straight talk session off base, hosted to ask how the military can improve itself, Hung give several great advice, but his last point talk about how the COs are lax in their discipline but asks highly of those under them. This prompted an internal investigation of Fan and Chen. During the investigation the investigators let slip it was Hung who prompted the whole thing. So in KMT military logic, it was time to “educate” Hung.

9

Did seemingly young and healthy people used to die so often from heat exhaustion or are we doing something different nowadays?

It seems like every year we read about a football player dropping after a summer practice and other stories like the one above. I remember back in the day when we had football training camp in the August heat we were worked like dogs in ways that I think are illegal now and denied water so we would be tough to handle the rigours of the upcoming season. Don’t remember people dropping so readily.

Unfortunate incident, but blaming this on the government is akin to Americans blaming all their issues on Obama or Bush.

10

[quote=“Deuce Dropper”]Did seemingly young and healthy people used to die so often from heat exhaustion or are we doing something different nowadays?
[/quote]

Well he was denied water in 33 degrees weather under the sun, with 86% humidity, works out to be 41.6 degrees with humidity effect. Military defined such weather as red flag temperature and no training should be conducted out doors. Also he had pre-existing conditions which would have made him unsuitable for solitary confinement in a super heated cell. Had master sergeant Fan allowed the medical exam under normal procedure, Hung wouldn’t have been sent to solitary confinement. But of course, he would also have been discharged, so Fan made sure Hung gets his.

I don’t know, maybe it just getting hotter, while people don’t work outside as much. I assume it’d be different for an young farmer who have been laboring in the fields since a kid to do extreme physical training in such weather, as opposed to a college kid who aims to do graduate research after military service.

11

I forgot to mention, they force him by telling Xu “either you lock Hung up , or we will lock you up.”

There’s a total of 80 minutes missing from the surveillance video footage. The missing footages include the following events.

Hung’s precondition, plus the heat at the correctional facilities is causing Hung’s body tremendous stress. As icon mentioned, Hung is usually very fit, but by the 3rd day, when he was being drilled as punishment, he twisted his right foot. When asked for medical assistance, the nurse on guard told him to finish the drill using just his left foot. But since the injury is only reflecting on Hung’s muscles failing, he soon injured his left foot as well. The nurse on guard proceeded to ask him to do other drills that doesn’t require using his legs.

and

When Hung’s body was finally failing, ie his muscles were dissolving, and his body was in shock and collapsed on the ground due to spasms, he was still conscious, and cursed.

The nurse on guard deliberately kept the ice bucket and oxygen tanks outside, something that should have been on standby. When Hung is in critical condition, the nurse rushed to get the oxygen tank, the military police outside told the nurse “See, I told you guys to stop messing with the guy, now he’s going to die.”

The most likely candidate who ordered to destroy the missing footages is Political Warfare Director Chen Yi-Ming (陳毅銘).

According to other people who were at the scene and just now discharged from military service, there weren’t any emergency medical equipments at the correctional facilities. But soon after Hung was sent to the hospital, the nurse on guard and others brought the emergency medical supplies in case the investigators come looking, it can look like they provided help.

12

It looks likes manslaughter or murder charges should be brought, massive scandal that deserves to be exposed.

The nurse and medical personnel need to be charged also for failure to carry out their duties and corruption.

The military higher-ups knew about this guy earlier , this was not a random event.

13

I hope they don’t let these modern day gulag prison keepers see the light of day. Their actions should be exposed. Pure sadism. I hope they get 40 years in the slammer. The guy is still dead but heads need to roll here.

14

I hope they crucify them, literally

15

No i propose balls cut off and made to work naked in the heat of summer until they collapse of heat exhaustion and left to die. But we can’t do that in our society. So 40 years in jail until VERY OLD.

Same goes for the nurse , anyone who directly practiced torture and sadism in this case.

16

crucifixion is probably one of the worst form of execution. There’s a reason why Romans did it for very serious crimes (like rebellion and sedition) as opposed to other more humane form of execution (like beheading). They nail you to a cross, in plain view of the public, naked, and are left there to die until you rot. It’s both cruel and humiliating.

17

now people are coming out to speak against Sgt. Fan. Mainly accusations of him owning a underground gambling ring on professional sports, and also a half service “massage parlor.”

also Sgt. Fan apparently has all the contraband he wants on base, which is why when Corporal Hung made his suggestions during the “confidential improvement meeting” causing investigators to raid Sgt. Fan’s room on base, it caused Sgt. Fan a lot of trouble.

In any case, Corporal Hung is an officer, he shouldn’t receive correctional custody as a punishment to begin with.

18

They have it for NCO’s, it’s the same as correctional custody but it has a different name.

19

what I mean was NCO’s punishment for bringing smartphones on base isn’t correctional custody, they just get an admonition.

20

Well correctional custody is excessive and illegal for bringing smartphones. Even for soldiers all they should be getting is either extra duty or have their passes taken away.