Six inmates take hostages in Taiwan

SIX inmates at a prison in Taiwan’s southern city of Kaohsiung are demanding a getaway on Wednesday after taking the warden and chief guard hostage, Taiwanese media reported.
The men are apparently disgruntled about how the prison is run, including inmates’ NT$200 (S$8.61) monthly allowance, as well as the release of former President Chen Shui-bian on medical parole last month, United Daily News reported after interviewing the apparent ringleader of the six men by telephone at about 7pm.
“It’s so unfair,” Cheng Li-teh, a 46-year-old hardened criminal said to be a member of the notorious United Bamboo Gang, was quoted by UDN as saying. “How come Chen Shui-bian could be released just because he has problems urinating? Other inmates who are bed-ridden or wheelchair-bound don’t get the same privilege.”
The six first took a military serviceman and a staff member at the Kaohsiung Prison hostage at about 4:30pm, Central News Agency (CNA) cited justice ministry deputy minister Chen Ming-tang as telling Taiwan media, before warden Chen Shih-chih and chief guard Wang Shih-tsang volunteered to take the place of the two hostages.
Deputy minister Chen said the kidnappers had fired shots into air apparently as a warning, but no one was hurt.
The inmates are demanding that the authorities provide them with a car and that they be allowed to leave through the prison’s side door, reports said. Negotiations with police led by Kaohsiung police chief Chen Chia-chin are still on going as of 7pm.
The hostage takers are armed with four rifles, six guns and more than 200 rounds of ammunition from the prison’s armoury which they had broken into, deputy minister Chen said at the press conference.
Four of the inmates were jailed for drug-related crimes, while the other two were convicted of robbery and murder respectively, reports said. They were serving sentences ranging from 25 years to life imprisonment.
Large numbers of armed police wearing bullet-proof vest have entered the prison complex, CNA reported. Several fire engines have also been deployed to the facility and are now parked at its gates, it said.
The authorities have also asked the inmates’ relatives to come to the prison, in hopes that they could persuade the men to not commit harm.
According to deputy minister Chen, the inmates said they were trying to break out of jail as they had been unhappy with prison management.
They first obtained permission to leave their cells on the pretext of seeking medical treatment, before charging their way to the visitation room where they took the initial two hostages.