Three years ago, he took a train from the southern county of Changhua, to Ruifang, a town in northern Taiwan without buying a ticket. When he was interrogated by the police, he refused to tell the truth but made up a dozen of fake names.
In the end, the police contacted his mother back home, but the poor parents could not afford to bring him back. Even after being lied to the whole day, two police officers were willing to take him home in a police car and contact a charity group to provide assistance to the family.
This time, he and his elder sister ate at a restaurant and skipped out on the bill and took a train and taxi from Changhua to Pade without paying. They were unable to pay the taxi fare so the taxi driver took them to the police station. They played the old trick of trying to fool the police and claiming they were mentally ill. This time they were not as lucky as three years previously. The police sent them directly to the prosecutor.
He has a timid smile and he can smile all day. The only thing that he does not like Is being stared at. If he does not like something, he stops smiling. With his low intelligence and limited mental capacity, it's easy to tell that he is different. However, he gets along with others very well and is the happy fellow at the detention center. One defendant told me once, "I've never seen anyone simpler than he is."
"Why did you go wandering around?"
"I just wanted to come out to play!" he replied with a big smile.
"Why didn't you pay the fare?"
"I didn't have any money," said he scratching his head and looking innocent.
It gave me a terrible headache seeing the incision wounds on the arms.
"What did you use to cut yourself?"
"A button."
"Give it to me!"
"I ate it!" He smiled happily.
He did the same thing once at the detention center and ate the slipcover of the ID tag. It happened not long after he was sent to the newcomers' chamber.
“Why did you do that?”
“I miss my family… ” he lowered his head.
A detainee who commits self-mutilation will be shackled and sent to the isolation ward. But this kind of treatment does not help him much.
The more experienced we get, the wiser we become. As soon as the warden learned about his situation, he said, "Isn't his sister in the women's ward? Set up a meeting for them!" They embraced each other and wept for joy.
“Are you happy to see your sister?”
“Happy!” He gave a great big smile.
"Then you should behave yourself so you may meet your sister more often."
"OK!" He nodded so hard.
His five-month sentence is almost over, but the verdicts in the other cases against him have been handed down, with three to five months sentences for each.
Is the prison the most appropriate place for him? Is his behavior "wicked" or not?
Is it a crime or a sickness?
三年前年他偷搭火車從彰化流浪到瑞芳，遇到警察巡邏盤查時扯了十個名字卻怎麼都不吐真，最後終於和家中老母聯絡上了，但家貧令父母無力接他回去，兩位員警被耍了一天卻仍願親自開著巡邏車送他回家，還熱心聯繫社福團體，希望能對這一家有所幫助。
這次姊弟倆一起吃霸王餐、搭霸王車，一路從彰化搭火車、換小黃來到了八德，因為付不出車資被司機載到警局。他們像上次一樣扯謊耍得警察團團轉，等到他們說實話講自己有精神疾病時卻又提不出證明，這回可不像三年前那麼幸運了，警察直接移送。
他笑起來很靦腆，而且幾乎笑整天，唯一不喜歡的是別人盯著他看，而他表答不喜歡的方式就只是不笑而已。
輕微智障和精障，其實很容易讓人看出他的不同，不過他的人緣特好，在看守所時是眾人的開心果，有位被告還告訴我：「我從沒看過比他單純的人了！」
「為什麼坐車亂跑？」
「我想出來玩嘛！」他給我一個大大的笑容。
「怎麼都不付錢？」
「我沒有嘛！」他抓抓頭一臉無辜看著我。
看著被劃花的小臂，真是一個頭兩個大：
「用什麼劃的？」
「紐扣。」
「拿來！」
「我吃掉了！」他笑得很開心。
在看守所時就搞過一次了，還吃了識別證的套子，才到新收房沒多久就又發病了。
「為什麼要這樣？」
「我好想家……」他低頭。
自殘當然就少不了送隔離舍上戒具這種基本待遇，但對他的狀況可也沒什麼幫助……
薑還是老的辣，典獄長知道這件事說：「他姊姊不是在女監嗎？安排兩個見面。」
姊弟相擁而泣……
「見到姊姊開心嗎？」
「開心！」他笑得腮幫子都快裂了。
「那你要乖喔，典獄長說有乖的話就讓你常看姊姊喔！」
「嗯！」他點頭點得脖子都快斷了。
五個月的刑就要滿了，可其他的判決也都下來了，分別三到五個月不等，但……
監獄難道是最合適收容他的處所？
他的行為究竟有沒有「惡性」？
是惡？是病？
No comments:
Post a Comment