TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Six inmates with seized guns and ammunition held a warden and guard hostage while demanding safe exit from a prison in southern Taiwan on Wednesday, authorities said.
Taiwan's Ministry of Justice said it had not agreed to the demands of the inmates, who were holding Warden Chen Shih-chih and the head guard after the pair offered to swap themselves for earlier hostages. No injury had been reported, the ministry said.
The inmates — serving long sentences for burglary, murder and drug crimes — also took four rifles, six handguns and more than 200 bullets from the prison's armory, the ministry said. Witnesses interviewed by private cable news station TVBS said gunshots were heard. Other reports said the shots were fired into the air.
Within hours, armed police had surrounded the prison in the port city of Kaohsiung. Authorities also had called on relatives of the inmates to plea for the release of the hostages, but the two sides remained in a standoff more than six hours after the inmates rebelled.
The ministry said it turned down the inmates' demands that the police force be withdrawn and that two fully fueled vehicles be provided to allow the felons to leave in exchange for the safety of the detainees.
"The priority now is to negotiate and we won't just answer to their demands right away," said Chen Ming-tang, deputy minister of justice. "Certainly we have to consider the safety of the hostages."
The ministry said the confrontation leader, Cheng Li-te, belongs to the notorious mafia-type organization Bamboo Union and is serving a 28½-year sentence for homicide. The other five inmates are serving sentences ranging from 25 years to life.
The inmates used the need for medical care as a pretense to lure prison guards before kidnapping them, the official Central News Agency said.
The United Daily News said it got on the phone with Cheng, who said the act had been long planned and that he was prepared to die for it. The newspaper said Cheng complained about the tendency of judges to presume guilt, insufficient allowances for inmates and unfairness in granting medical paroles.
The ministry said deputy warden Lai Chen-jung and head guard Wang Shih-tsang volunteered to swap with the two guards who were initially taken hostage. Later, Chen, the prison warden, offered to exchange with Lai as a hostage.
President Ma Ying-jeou requested that authorities stay calm and ensure the safety of the hostages and of those on the scene, said Ma Wei-kuo, spokesman for the president's office.
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