Draft:The Original Taiwan Province National Security Council Military Justice Department Detention Center

Originally known as Taiwan Province National Security Council Military Justice Department Detention Center, the site is situated in No.3, Qing-Dao East Road and served as a prominent site for detention and trials for political criminals during Taiwan’s 1950s’ White Terror period. In 1968, due to considerations of urban development, the space was therefore demolished, sold, and the Military Justice Department and other affiliated bureaus were moved to the old location of Military Justice Institution in Xindian District, New Taipei City, which is where Jing-Mei White Terror Memorial Park, which belongs to the National Human Rights Museum, is located nowadays.

History

In October 1945, the government of the Republic of China, Military Commission, Taiwan Province Garrison Command made its way into Taipei City. The Taiwan Province Chief Executive, Chen Yi, became the Commander in Chief. In the department, there were 7 sections and 2 subdivisions, among which, under the Military Justice department, trial class, inspection class, and detention center were established. In 1946, the Taiwan Province Garrison Command, alongside the Military Commission, was converted and made a part of the Ministry of National Defense, which was then situated on Ching-Dao East Road’s Department of Military Justice Detention Center. Starting from August 21st that year, the detention center started to confine military criminals who awaited their trials. In May 1947, after the foundation of Taiwan Province Government, it was then changed to “Taiwan Plenary Garrison Command,” and departments’ work distributions were adjusted, which included departments such as Staff Officer, Intelligence Information, Adjutant, Media, Military Justice, and more. On June of the same year, the Military Prison in Taipei, which was part of the Ministry of National Defense, was migrated to the scope of the south of Zhong-Zheng East Road, the west of Shang-Hai Road, the north of Ching-Dao East road, and the east of Zheng-Chiang Street, which was then an patch of land away (with a wall stood in between) from the Department of Military Justice. In February 1949, the place was then changed to “Taiwan Province Garrison Command”; in May of the same year, martial law was executed in all of Taiwan province. Any criminal involved in instigation, foreign aggression, even if they had military status, would be handed over to the Taiwan Province’s Garrison Command Department of Military Justice.

On September 1949, to adapt to the changes around Taiwan, the Executive Yuan set up the “Southeast Military and Administrative Executive Office”, made it a part of the Taiwan Province Garrison Command, and converted it as “Taiwan Province National Security Council,” which was equipped with 1 section, 2 rooms, 7 bureaus, 1 group, and other staff institutions, There were also 6 Service Forces, 78 affiliated units, 7 command units, Military Justice Department, and a Detention Center that was still located at the intersection of Ching-Dao East Road. In the meanwhile, the Ministry of National Defense Military Justice Bureau also migrated to the north side of the Ching-Dao East Road intersection, and therefore acquired more space from the National Security Council Military Justice Department, equipped with the Military Justice Bureau’s own detention center. In April 1950, the Southeast Military and Administrative Executive Office was officially removed, the Taiwan Province National Security Council then was affiliated to the Executive Yuan instead, and was then supervised by the Ministry of National Defense. At this period, the campsite of the Military Justice Bureau was stationed at the Taiwan Province National Security Council Military Justice Bureau’s detention center on No.3, Ching-Dao East Road, the detention center of the Ministry of National Defense’s Military Justice Bureau on No.1, Ching-Dao East Road, and the Taipei Military Prison from the Ministry of National Defense on No.1, Zhong-Zheng East Road. In 1952, in order to coordinate with the Air raid evacuation policies, the Taipei Military Prison was then moved to Ankeng district in Xindian town, Taipei County at the time, and its name became the Ministry of National Defense Taiwan Military Prison.

In 1956, according to the Law of Military Justice Trials, the Ministry of National Defense Military Justice Bureau was converted into two institutions: the Ministry of National Defense Military Judicial Bureau and Military Justice Department. In 1959, the Military Justice Department was expanded and became the Ministry of National Defense Military Justice Bureau. In July 1958, due to the structure simplification of the institutions, the Taiwan Province National Security Council and other units were combined together as “Taiwan Garrison Command,” short as Garrison Command, and continued to be a part of the Military Justice Department. In the 1960s, due to the air raid evacuation policies, urban development, and more, the military justice campsites, which were stationed at the Garrison Command Headquarter Military Justice Department, Ministry of National Defense Military Justice Bureau, Ministry of National Defense Military Judicial Bureau, and more, were planned to be migrated to the surrounding suburban areas. In 1967, the Ministry of National Defense Military Justice School, which was located in Er-Shi Zhang district, Xindian town, Taipei County at the time, was combined into the Political Cadre School, moving all of the teachers and students to Fuxing Gang in Beitou district. The Garrison Command, Military Justice Department, and three other institutions were therefore moved to the land that belonged to the Military Justice School that was originally located in Xindian town, Taipei county, and new detention centers were founded back then. After the detention centers were moved away, the land at Ching-Dao East Road had been gradually transformed and  several commercial buildings were established.

Campsite Dormitory Space and Models

The original location of the Military Justice Department’s detention center was a takeover from the Japanese Army Ministry’s Managing warehouse and the Cavalry Battle Training Ground. In 1946, the detention center started detaining military criminals. The center was equipped with a total of 28 small cells, a total of 16 cells, each for either 6-people or 8-people, which together made 60 cells as a whole. In 1949, after martial law was declared in the Taiwan Province, the amount of administrative work increased at the Military Justice Department. A detention center that once was capable of taking in about 300 detainees was then taking in more than the amount the space could accommodate, which caused the confined space to be even more crowded. Inside the detention center were two rows of cells facing each other across the corridor, the corridor was around 6 meters long, the cells constructed with wooden bars and wooden floorboards. Each cell generally detained about 20 people, making the space extra somber and stifling. The space in the cell only had a wooden toilet at the corner, and due to the lack of space, not all of the detainees would be able to lie down to sleep at night, therefore some of the detainees had to take turns standing, and newcomers sometimes even had to hug the toilet to sleep. The air of the space was saturated with the sourness of sweat, putrid urine, and mice. Detainees who were once confined in this space described the place as “worse than being in a pigsty, a living hell.” After the Taipei Military Prison moved out of the military justice campsite, the original detention zones were then divided as the “West Zone” to confine military criminals, and “East Zone” to confine rebel criminals.

The Taiwan Province National Security Council Military Justice Department was a significant location that decided the life and death of criminals in the 1950s. The criminals at the time, while waiting for official trials, were allowed to meet or communicate with their families and closed ones. However, due to the fact that this waiting period meant the amount of time for the officials to decide if one was guilty, if one was going to receive life imprisonment, or if one would be sentenced to death. The amount of stress a criminal had to undergo was unprecedented. If criminals were sentenced to death, they would be called by staff members at the Military Justice Department at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning, after a few procedures, they would be taken to Machangding to be shot. After 1954, the main execution site was the one in Ankeng, Xindian town. At the time, the sounds of footsteps and sounds of opening the metal doors at 3 or 4 in the morning would scare the detainees awake. Some of the criminals were sentenced to out-of-prison labor, and there were labor sites that were equipped with sections for laundry, sewing, ironing, and handicraft for prisoners to do physical labor in the detention center.

Due to the fact that the Detention Center’s entire architecture and space had disappeared completely, between the year 2011 to 2013, victim Cheng Meng-He, who were once imprisoned at this location, made use of his memories, aerial photographs,  and historical photographs from the 1950s to guide the National Human Rights Museum to produce the Taiwan Province National Security Council Military Justice Department Detention Center’s 1:100 architecture model, so as to build a concrete evidence to demonstrate the space where the political criminals were once placed in.