Agricultural Division trains our inmates when to fertilize, which agricultural chemicals to use against which fruit worms, how to harvest and how to pack, etc. We care about, manage and breed original fruits such as mangoes into new breeds. We plant these new breeds e.g. Aiwen mango, Jinhuang, oranges and papayas and so on. The cultivating region of our top product ‘Aiwen Mango’ has slate-gray-rock geology. It is not easy to do cultivation. Our prison overcomes the water-and-soil-reserved problem and succeeds in growing mangoes. Every June is the harvest season. It creates our reputation. Aiwen Mango has been popular in quite a few places. When people hear about Mingde Open Prison, they think of not only ‘Native Golden Chickens’ but also ‘Aiwen Mango’ the most widely-known agricultural product.

Animal and Husbandry Division trains our inmates how to undertake preventive work before animal and husbandry; and to know how to react to a spreading disease in the process of stock feeding. There are 13 poultry houses completed. We raise sheep, deer, chickens and other kinds of poultry. We also create a pastureland to supply feed to our poultry.

This division takes charge of the environmental beautification and flower-and-tree management as well as the ‘Neighbourhood Caring Programme’ and so on.

Due to the domestic recession, we can cooperate with some factories nearby to provide the labour of our inmates to do process works. We can accept out-of-prison employment such as door locks or assembling cooling equipment and so on. Our Business Section has signed a cooperative contract with Yuancih Co. and Mengkuen Co. Our Prison Affairs Committee had a negotiation meeting for signing the contract. They can provide transportation and insure each of our working inmates for 1 million dollars of accident insurance. The Ministry of Justice produced Regulations Governing Exit of Inmates based on Subsection 7 of Article 26-2 of Law of Execution in Prison. When inmates work outside of the prison, it is regarded that they serve their sentence of imprisonment. At the same time, they can also receive labour income. For those poor inmates, this is good news.

In 2001, we redesigned the pig shed into a glasshouse for cultivation. Right now we cultivate Dendrobium and Phalaenopsis spp. After our inmates take charge of the growing and succeed in cultivating the orchids, we openly sell the orchids by ourselves or we deliver the orchids to the ‘Kaohsiung Prison South-Region Prison Self-Run Business Products Joint Exhibition Center’ and sell the flowers there. In July, 2002, we cooperate with Farmers Union in Zuojhen Hsiang to open ‘Aspenium nidus Cultivation and Research Class. ’ We cooperate to cultivate Aspenium nidus. However after evaluation of the soil in our prison, we attempt to cultivate it using a potted approach.

This division takes charge of the whole-prison construction matters and its supervision. It belongs to the technical and civil engineering, including basic engineering, bricklaying, concrete proportion mixture, broad molding, painting and the related tasks. The director takes charge of all construction works. On the one hand, we extend the employment of skilled inmates; on the other way, we train inmates to acquire a living skill. In the future, when they go back into society, they can find a decent job and not fool around and doing nothing.

The cooking work of inmates: they are in charge of food for all prisoners. In the prison, inmates have 4 dishes and 1 soup, 8 people sit around at 1 table and have meal together. Every month, inmates elect one inmate to supervise the inmates’ work of cooking in the prison’s kitchen. Every day, inmates’ families can see the daily menu in the meeting room so that they know what inmates eat in the prison.

Our prison is situated on the 2 sides of Beizihhukeng (a lake crater). Its size is 2.7036 hectares. It is classified as 3rd level land. It is suitable for cultivating all kinds of vegetables for meeting the demand for the secondary food for our prison’s inmates. The Vegetable Growing Division is in charge of new inmates’ training programme, and the vegetable-cultivation area. According the regulations of Statute of Open Prisons and Regulations Governing Inmate Selection for Open Prison, we select the qualified inmates from all other prisons around Taiwan to come to our prison to serve their imprisonment. During the initial period, we gather all new inmates to receive training in this division to improve their physical condition. After our evaluations, according to their skills and professions, they are dispatched to different work divisions.

This division takes charge of wooden and steel work training and car-and-scooter maintenance work.

This division is in charge of the works of water and electricity maintenance, and the water and electric engineering skill training programme. Thus inmates can develop their profession or apply their skills during their imprisonment so that they do not waste or forget their professions.