An unused prison on an outlying Taiwanese island has become a valuable site for teaching people about human rights. The prison, located on Green Island, is where many of Taiwan’s political prisoners were locked up.
Today the prison is home to the Green Island Human Rights Cultural Park; it has been open to the public since 2001. Visitors to the park can see a memorial plaque, as well as a “Disciplinary Office for Newcomers,” where the first group of political prisoners was jailed in the early 1950s.
Visitors can also see a cell with the dubious name “Oasis Villa”. During the White Terror era, which lasted from 1949-1992, as many as ten people were locked up in each tiny cell in that building..
A recent visitor to the park, Hsieh Yi-hsun, is the grandson of a man who was executed during that era. He describes how he felt during his visit.
"What I saw made me so angry about the unfair treatment that innocent Taiwanese people were subjected to. It brought me to tears," Hsieh said. "[But] it’s very good that the park has guided tours, since that enables people to understand the historical background and what Taiwan was like under totalitarian rule."
Last year alone, the former prison racked up some 340,000 visits