Taiwan v Wizzo pt 2 — the sentencing

“Instead of a war on poverty, they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me” — Tupac.

May 10th, 2016 was my sentencing. I didn’t attend my sentencing, but my lawyer didn’t attend either. If I had known that he wasn’t going to go, I would have went. I don’t think my lawyer was a very good lawyer. He was my auntie’s friend, I think she hired him because he was her friend and not for his legal prowess. Drugs weren’t even his area of expertise, it is fraud. He was a cool guy, though, whenever he was at the prison visiting other clients he would say he needed to visit me also, just to get me out of my cell. I would meet with him for 2 minutes, then spend the rest of the 45 minutes chilling in the waiting area, it was nice to get out of my cell every now and then.

I was convicted of smuggling, possession for personal use and consumption, that’s right, using is a crime here too. I beat the sales charge, at the end of the day they didn’t have any proof and no witnesses. The snitch never appeared in court. Because I have a license, I didn’t have to go rehab. That was something I was fighting tooth and nail the whole time, the prosecutor was trying to send me to rehab, for weed!!! Funny thing is, I already sobered up the 3 months I spent inside while on trial. They were going to send me to rehab after I had sobered up. I said it before and I’ll say it again, nothing seems very well thought out here. At least it was only weed, I feel for the people in for meth or heroin, they were coming down in prison. At night you can hear them throwing up and detoxing. It’s brutal. Rehab here is 28 dudes in a room sitting indian style staring at a wall. It’s 45 days inside and it doesn’t count towards your time. It costs 4500 NTD ($139.66) a month, 6750 NTD ($209.50) for the full 45 days. Such bullshit, I have to pay for the privilege of sitting in a room for 45 days. The Judge sentenced me to 2 years. I already did 3 months, so it’s 1 year and 9 months. In Taiwan, first time offenders, do 50% of their time before they are eligible for parole, so 9 months is a best case scenario or 21 months if I do every minute of my time. I’m going to do my best to keep my head down and stay out of trouble, but I will defend myself if needed.

I asked my grandma what she thought of my sentence she said, “I think you got off light, I think I’ll still be alive when you get out (she’s 93).” Shit, when she puts it that way, she’s right. I had 10 days to appeal but I decided not to. I can do 2 years, these walls don’t change who I am. Besides, that right there wasn’t a fair or even real trial, what makes me think that I’m going to get a fair shake at my appeal? The impression I got from all this? They wanted to nail me, they wanted to make an example of out of me. Even with a doctored, coerced confession they refused to throw out my case. They want my head on a fucking stick, they wanted to show the public that they’re doing a good job because facts are, the police are incompetent and inept at best, corrupt and morally questionable at work.

I don’t like what the conviction implies, they found me guilty of consumption even though I didn’t use in Taiwan, I got high in America and they arrested me at the airport right when I landed. What this ruling means is that the Taiwanese government has jurisdiction over any Taiwanese person even if they are in another country. That should cut the other way too since I’m Taiwanese-American, America should have jurisdiction over any American even in another country. There is no jury in Taiwan, my fate is in the hands of 3 judges, how are they suppose to be impartial when the media is running my story for a week before my trial? The police even gave the media their footage to use, what happened to impartial journalism? The media is basically a mouthpiece for the police. The police, media and even the public doesn’t care about the truth. They want a story that sells no matter who it hurts. There’s no such thing as a fair trial in Taiwan.

There is certainly a negative attitude towards drugs. I think mostly because of media sensationalism and a general lack of education towards drugs. Even weed is categorised along with the hard drugs. Selling, buying, and using drugs are all capital offenses in Taiwan, punishable by death, but such sentences are rare. For many years, most of the guilty have been thrown behind bars and later released on probation for good behavior in jail. And for those selling huge quantities for profit, life sentences are the norm.

Narcotics are perceived as a deadly poison smuggled in by foreigners to destroy society from the inside. This reflects on the current legislation, as it was crafted by politicians with the memory of China’s humiliation firmly in mind. Average people have a very negative view of all recreational drugs, and almost nobody has any real experience with them. The average person would lump marijuana in with ecstasy or heroin because they haven’t experienced any of it. Hardline countries still call for ‘a society free of drug abuse” to justify their policies. “If drug prohibition was a business, and after year two I (wasn’t) making any profits out of it, why should I continue running this business?” — Richard Branson. If it’s just costing a lot and it’s generating more problems than the ones it was originally intended to solve. It’s very expensive in terms of human lives, but also in terms of public budgets, and at least the stated objectives of drug control in modern times have not been reached. Not even close. They haven’t eliminated supply. They haven’t eliminated demand. All they are doing is driving up the price of the drugs. As long as there is a demand, there will always be supply.

Mass incarceration does no good. It’s not even cost effective, but it certainly has not reduced crime. The biggest lesson is that punishment comes too late. What spirit should the criminal-justice system embody? One side of it says it should focus on retribution and payback. The second says it should focus on doing whatever is useful for the future. The third says it should focus on reform. And of course, two and three go together, because one of the things that might be useful for the future is reform. In this war on drugs, I’m a prisoner of war. As the world turns and the kush burns, masters need their slaves and gulags need their workers.

10 observations of the Taiwanese justice system.

• An overwhelming majority of the people support capital punishment. Too many people think parole is automatic after 25 years for life sentences.
• Married women require the consent of their husbands to get abortions.
• Adultery is a crime.
• An overwhelming majority of the people are against legalizing marijuana, but at the same time, there’s no visible movement against traditional Chinese medicine, much of which has no positive medical effects.
• Publicly calling someone stupid, even if it’s the truth, can be a crime.
• Civil monetary settlements can reduce criminal penalties.
• The Constitutional Court released on average 10.8 interpretations a year for the past 6 years even though they receive more than 400 new cases annually.
• 18 year-olds are treated as adults in criminal law but can’t sign contracts, vote, or get married without parental consent. They can have sex though, so the law is unintentionally quite progressive in that it encourages premarital sex.
• Foreign spouses who have not received their ID cards have little right to continue staying in Taiwan after a divorce.
• Confirmation bias, not evidence, is the basis of many people’s opinions of the judiciary and judges.

Full disclosure — my Mandarin is pretty good, I’m able to watch and understand the news and I understood about 80% of what was going on in the courtroom. That’s also how I know how bad translators were, they weren’t translating what the judge said correctly, they weren’t even getting the spirit of what she was saying. I was just playing the dumb A.B.C. role and hoping for leniency. I feel bad for the people they had to translate for that were depending on them. If you’re wondering if my Mandarin is so good then why did I insist on a translator? Because, even though it’s good, I’m not fluent, and if my life hangs in the balance I want to be sure of every word and that I’m understanding every detail correctly.

I went to Taipei this past weekend for a friends birthday. I rode my moped to the H.S.R. (High speed rail) station and parked it on the corner where I usually park it. I came back the next day and my moped wasn’t where I left it. There was no tow number to call or anything, I went to the police station inside the high speed rail station and asked the cops what happened. Chief Wiggum had me show him where I parked my moped, I showed him where and he took a picture, then Chief Wiggum called the tow yard to see if they towed my moped, they didn’t. My heart sank. Chief Wiggum then told me, “I don’t think it’s stolen because you parked it in a restricted area overnight, you should go home and make sure you remembered your license plate number correctly.” I had to take a taxi home, I was so sad I looked like the azn Charlie Brown. My shoulders were droopy, my head was low, I’m sure I looked sad. When I got home I found my registration and realized I got my license plate number mixed up. I called the tow yard with the right license plate number and it turns out, they had it! Phew, they towed it. Fuck, they fucking towed it. It was late, so I decided to get it the next day. I took a taxi to the tow yard and when I got there the lady said I couldn’t get it because I don’t have a Taiwanese ID card, I only have a Taiwanese driver’s license. She said, “either your grandma comes and gets it because it is in her name, or you have a family member come, but I can’t release it to you.” The tow yard is in a secluded part of Kaohsiung, so I had to walk for a little bit before I could find a taxi. I waited until my uncle was back from work and told him what happened. He drove me back to the tow yard and got it for me. Compared to the states, it was cheap but still annoying and time consuming.

Taxi from HSR to my apt — 130 NTD ($4.02)

Taxi from my apt to the tow yard — 180 NTD ($5.56)

Taxi from the tow yard back to my apt — 150 NTD ($4.64)

Cost of impound — 900 NTD ($27.81)

The total is $42.03 USD that’s not so bad, in the states when a person’s car is towed, it’s at least $250.

Songs of the moment — 2Pac — Changes, Public Enemy — Fight the power