This was my first visit to a prison. As I drew deeper into the building, a pang of nervousness began to emerge inside me...

This was my first visit to a prison. As I drew deeper into the building, a pang of nervousness began to emerge inside me. The people I was with were obviously not nervous at all. They exchanged greetings with the wardens with the familiarity of old friends. They were in fact regular visitors here--Tzu Chi volunteer social workers who had been coming here every week for the past six years to visit juvenile delinquents in the juvenile detention center, which is attached to the prison.

We finally arrived at a classroom. About ten young inmates were already seated behind the desks. In their uniforms and closely cropped hair, they looked extremely young. They sat there so quietly and gave me an impression of being very shy.

The volunteers' visit began with a short lesson, mostly on phrases taken from Still Thoughts by Dharma Master Cheng Yen, or sometimes a Buddhist story or fable. Through simple words and interesting stories, the juveniles learned about ethics and correct codes of conduct. The volunteers also shared with the young people what they had seen and encountered while serving the needy. With such real life experiences, they hoped to activate the love and compassion in the hearts of the youngsters, and at the same time make them realize the hardships and the courage of other less fortunate people. After the lesson, the volunteers led the youngsters in singing and other group activities to help them relax and enjoy themselves. A visit would never be complete without a tete-a-tete with each inmate. Through these one-on-one conversation sessions, the volunteers have truly won the hearts of these young people.

Juvenile delinquency is still a major problem in Taiwan, despite the decline in the juvenile crime rate over the past few years. National Police Administration statistics indicate that 14.4 percent of all crime suspects in 1997 were juveniles between the ages of twelve and eighteen, down from eighteen percent in 1992. A disturbing trend is the drop in the mean age of delinquents. In the past, most juvenile delinquents in Taiwan were either seventeen or eighteen years of age, but since 1986 the number of fourteen- and fifteen-year-old offenders has been rising quickly.

Burglary, violent crimes and drug violations dominate cases of juvenile delinquency. The motives are often simple and impulsive. "We ask them how they end up here and they are very willing to talk about it," said Sister Chen Mei-hui, a Tzu Chi volunteer who has been visiting the juvenile detention center for the past six years. "Many of them are sent here for stealing, especially stealing motorcycles. If you ask them why they did that, they say they were curious and just wanted to go for a ride." Other young people are enticed by friends into taking drugs, while violent crimes are often the result of impulsive actions arising from small disputes.

However, these reasons are only on the surface. Delving deeper into the root of the problem, one finds a common trait among juvenile delinquents--they come from problem families. Scholars, discipline masters of the juvenile detention center, and volunteer social workers alike unanimously attest that problem families contribute the most to juvenile delinquency. "The family has always been the key factor behind juvenile delinquency," said Professor Susyan Jou of the Department of Social Studies Education at Taipei Municipal Teachers' College. "Other factors include the bad company that the juveniles mix with and the taxing education system. The last factor could be exclusive to Taiwan."

The education environment in Taiwan is extremely competitive, and society at large tends to put a heavy stress on good educational qualifications. Most Taiwanese citizens graduate from the nation's nine-year compulsory education system by the age of fifteen. Young people who are unable to pass the competitive examinations to enter a senior high school or vocational school or who simply drop out find that life without a high school diploma is difficult. Not surprisingly, rates of petty crime and drug dependence are rising among this group.

Volunteers and detention center officials also agree that family factors contribute most to juvenile delinquency. "Most of them come from a family background lacking in love," observed Sister Chen. "For example, there are those whose parents are divorced, those who are fatherless or motherless and those whose parents work far away from home. And then there are those whose parents are too strict and demanding and use violence on them."

It is evident that what juvenile delinquents are most deprived of is love. I asked the volunteers what they do to break the ice with the young inmates. They said that they often give them a pat on the shoulder or put their arms around them. These simple gestures of love and care often move the youngsters to tears.

The young people call the volunteers "Tzu Chi Papa" or "Tzu Chi Mama." "They can feel that we truly care about them," said Sister Chen. They often feel that their parents have already abandoned them. At times like this, the volunteers try to play the role of communications link between the juveniles and their parents.

The parental love of the Tzu Chi volunteers has deeply touched some of the inmates. When Sister Chen first saw Chih, she thought he was a well-behaved child. She wondered what he had done to end up here. In following visits, she tried to talk to him during their one-on-one conversation sessions. He was extremely shy at the beginning and often hid his head in his collar. After a few visits, he finally began to talk.

Chih expressed his remorse for what he had done on impulse. "But it's too late now," he said with regret. "Everyone makes mistakes sometimes," Sister Chen consoled him. "You are still a good boy if you repent and mend your ways." Every time she came to visit, she would give Chih encouragement. Slowly, he began to look upon her as his spiritual support.

In juvenile court, the judge decided to give Chih a chance because the crime he committed was petty and it was evident that he had truly repented. After Chih had left the juvenile detention center, Sister Chen still kept in contact with him and showed her concern. She knew that he had lost his mother when he was four, so she cared about him as if he were her own son. Sometimes when she took him to Tzu Chi activities, she would introduce him to other Tzu Chi members as "my son, Chih." After a while, he even began to call her "Mom."

Do most juvenile delinquents mend their ways after they serve out their sentence and go home? "It depends largely on their families," said Sister Chen. She confessed that they repeatedly encountered old faces in the detention center. "If there's a change in their household environment--for example, if their parents change their attitude towards them--they will definitely change their ways too." So, it still boils down to family factors. One realizes how important family upbringing is to the growth of a child.

The juvenile detention center is a place where juvenile delinquents are temporarily kept in custody prior to disposition by the juvenile court. Detention periods vary from less than a month for petty crimes to over a year for serious criminal cases which may take several rounds of court hearings. Because the detention is only temporary, it is impossible to plan any systematic education for the inmates, such as would be found in a reformatory. Therefore, the weekly visits of the Tzu Chi volunteer social workers have special significance. Most juvenile delinquents come in with a feeling of having been forsaken by society. When the volunteers accompany these young people through this difficult moment of their lives, they realize that there are people out there who still love and care about them.

Before our visit ended, the young people sang their favorite song, "Friends," together with the Tzu Chi volunteers. As they sang, smiles broke on their young faces and grew brighter and brighter as the song came to its culmination, where the lyrics went:


There are still pains in the heart
And tears in the eyes.
But life goes on
And I'm still standing by you.


For these young people, it must be really good to know that there will always be someone standing by them when they fall.





Walking with Them through Darkness

By Violet Cheong
Photographs by Lin Feng-chi



Rain or shine, Tzu Chi volunteer social workers have been paying weekly visits to the juvenile detention center in the Ilan prison, located in northeastern Taiwan, since October 1994. The most senior and persistent members of them all are Brother Liao Yu-ming and his wife, Sister Chen Mei-hui.

Yu-ming and Mei-hui run a pharmacy in Lotung, a large town in Ilan County. Every Monday at noon, the couple shut down their store for the day because they have an important errand to run. They drive for about half an hour to the Ilan prison, where they meet up with other Tzu Chi volunteers. As they enter the prison and walk through a myriad of iron gates, the wardens do not check their belongings as they do with other visitors. After six years of regular visits, the volunteers have gained the complete trust of the guards.

The visit begins with Yu-ming giving a lesson on Still Thoughts by Dharma Master Cheng Yen, or by telling a Buddhist story or fable. He tries to make the lesson more lively by illustrating the aphorisms in Still Thoughts with real life experiences or situations in daily life. He also tries to get the young inmates to talk about their own opinions and feelings.

"We are not here to deliver a sermon," said Mei-hui. "The Master has told us, 'We are no more superior than they are. How can we claim to educate them?' We are only giving a personal demonstration. We tell them our stories--what kind of persons we were before we joined Tzu Chi and how Tzu Chi changed us. We hope our own repentance will inspire and touch them."

Mei-hui joined Tzu Chi in 1988, but she did not get the chance to visit the Abode of Still Thoughts in Hualien until 1991, when the Hualien Tzu Chi General Hospital celebrated its fifth anniversary. The visit was an unforgettable experience for her. Having learned what Tzu Chi had been doing to serve the poor and needy, she was truly impressed by the missions in which the organization was engaged. At that moment, she decided that she would dedicate herself to the foundation's charity work. However, at the same time she knew that the first thing she had to do was to get her husband into the world of Tzu Chi too. Since both of them worked together in their pharmacy, her husband would not appreciate her devotion if she alone spent a lot of time doing volunteer work. "This is not going to be easy," Mei-hui thought to herself, as she knew very well how stubborn her husband could be.

Mei-hui planned a stratagem. When Yu-ming was rushing to go out one day, she pleaded with him to go with her to the next Tzu Chi activity. In order to get out of the situation, he nodded his head. When they later went to that activity, that first encounter with Tzu Chi left a good impression in his mind. He found that the people there were very friendly and respectful to each other.

In the following week, Master Cheng Yen came to a members' meeting in their local Tzu Chi branch to deliver a speech. Mei-hui invited her husband to attend the meeting. Yu-ming refused at first, but finally softened under his wife's tenacious persuasion. This time, the Master's words indeed touched a chord in Yu-ming's heart. When they got home, he excitedly told his wife, "Every word that the Master said seemed to point towards my problems, especially about my bad habit of clinging stubbornly to my own views. How could she know me so well?"

After Yu-ming joined Tzu Chi, he became an even more devoted volunteer than his wife. He headed the environmental protection volunteer team in their district for three years. Since Tzu Chi volunteer social workers started their weekly visits to the juvenile detention center in 1994, he has never missed a single visit. There were occasions when all the volunteers of the team were busy and no one could turn up for that week, but that did not stop Yu-ming from visiting the juvenile detention center on his own.

"It is only our duty to come and visit them to contribute in whatever way we can," Yu-ming continued. "The Master is our inspiration. She gives us the strength to go on. We also learned not to cling to any expectations whatsoever about how great a help we could be to these juvenile delinquents. Some of them really mend their ways after they leave the detention center, but as for those who don't, there is nothing we can do."

Not expecting a positive result of these visits might sound pessimistic. However, it is because of this pragmatic attitude of "sowing without asking for immediate results" that the volunteer social workers keep trying to set good examples for the inmates, even when they keep bumping into some "old faces" in the detention center.

"I saw a familiar young man in the class today--it's his third time there," said Lin Mei-huang, another volunteer social worker. "When you visit the center every week and keep seeing some old faces coming back time and again, you begin to doubt how much help your efforts can really give them. However, as long as there's a possibility that our words might pop into their minds and remind them to think twice about their behavior whenever they're on the verge of committing a crime, our efforts are not all worthless."

The volunteers find the inmates in the detention center are generally on their good behavior. They are attentive in class, can discern between right and wrong and know what the correct code of conduct is. Yet after they leave the center, some of them tend to fall into their old bad habits and commit crimes again. The major reason for this is that so many temptations exist in their living environment. In contrast to the detention center, which provides young people with surroundings that emphasize the importance of goodness and a sense of morality, the environments that they originally come from are usually full of irresistible temptations. Most of the youngsters are not strong enough to resist those temptations and the enticements of their peers.

Yu-ming gave an apt illustration of the situation. "It is like a person going on a holiday trip. He feels high-spirited in the beautiful scenery and comfortable environment, but eventually the trip ends and he has to go back to his normal life."

Nevertheless, there are rewarding moments for the volunteers too. "Sometimes I meet them on the road after they leave the center," said Yu-ming. "They are usually riding on motorcycles. As they ride by and see me, they turn back and greet me with 'Tzu Chi Papa!'" Moments such as this are truly gratifying for the volunteer social workers.

"We have no idea how effective our visits are, but we know that they're not at all futile." There was an episode that Yu-ming remembered vividly. During one of the visits, they noticed that one of the inmates repeatedly took a piece of paper out of his pocket and looked at it. They later learned that the boy had written an aphorism by Master Cheng Yen on the paper. He kept it in his pocket and constantly looked at it to remind and encourage himself. He was one of those who really made an effort to mend his ways.

Surprisingly, being in contact with juvenile delinquents has more or less improved Yu-ming's relationships with his own children. "He used to be very harsh and demanding towards our children," remarked Mei-hui. "Through our contact with the juvenile delinquents, he has come to understand the mindset of teenagers better and express his love to our children in a more straightforward way. He has even apologized to them about his rough attitude toward them in the past!"

In order to understand the juvenile delinquents better, Yu-ming asks them to write down their feelings or complaints on a piece of paper for him every week. After carefully reading each paper, he writes his comments and gives it back to them. "I try to find the core of their problems by reading the papers they write," said Yu-ming. "Then I go through the Master's teachings to find appropriate aphorisms or quotes that might give them suitable answers to their problems. Because of this, I must read the Master's books every day. Incidentally, I've gotten a much better comprehension of the Master's thoughts."

Juvenile delinquents are young people who have stumbled at the starting point of their life's journey. Yu-ming and Mei-hui have seen any number of them since they began to pay their weekly visits to the juvenile detention center six years ago. They are not sure their visits will bring any dramatic changes to these young people, but as long as the detention center is not empty, they will continue to keep the inmates company through the hardest time of their lives.





Just See How They Fell!

By Lai Li-Chun
Translated by Violet Cheong
Photographs by Lin Feng-chi



Their faces are so angelic, yet they have been associated with crimes like burglary, drug violation and murder. Why?


I'm so sorry...

Name: Ah-cheng
Age: 15
Offenses: Burglary, fist fighting


My father is a civil servant and my mother a housewife. My sister is outstanding in school. I'm the black sheep of the family. My law-abiding parents must never have expected their son could commit a crime.

When I went to junior high school, I hung out with a group of older kids. We often went to video parlors or pool halls or had motorcycle races. It was fun and exciting going out with them. I hung out with them after school and often didn't get home until after midnight.

When I began to come home late, Dad and Mom became very worried and waited up for me. One time, I didn't get home until one in the morning. Mom asked me tearfully, "Where have you been? You didn't even give us a call. We were so worried and thought that you might have been kidnapped!"

I said casually, "I was out having fun with my friends."

Dad was very angry. "How can you behave like this when we're so worried about you!"

I knew that they were going to nag me again, so I ran to my room and locked the door.

From then on, I often stayed out all night and didn't come home until morning. I didn't even go to school. Mom and Dad were really upset, but I didn't care much. I just wanted to have fun. I knew I wasn't the studying type and probably wouldn't achieve much in the future. I figured I might as well enjoy the moment and have some fun.

I hung out with my gang in video parlors and pool halls every day, and that was very expensive. The pocket money that my parents gave me wasn't enough, so someone suggested that we steal from the donation boxes in temples.

I was scared, but my friend said, "We're only borrowing it. We'll put it back when we get some money." That was the first time I stole. I was so nervous that I almost wet my pants. We didn't realize that we were being watched until we saw policemen coming after us with their nightsticks in their hands.

Dad came to take me home from the police station. He gave me a good scolding and told me never to hang out with those friends again. He said that many times, but I turned a deaf ear to his words and continued to go out with them and skip school.

A while ago, I was irritated by a classmate who had been bad-mouthing me all the time. I ganged up with my friends and gave him a good beating. I only meant to teach him a lesson so that he wouldn't dare say bad things about me again. I didn't expect that I would be arrested for that. Will I get a heavy sentence? I'm so scared!

My court case has run Dad off his legs and affected his work. Mom was so upset that her health got really bad. They looked really awful when they came to see me. I'm so sorry for letting them down... I used to hate going to school before. Now, I really miss those classes and my classmates. How I wish I could be back at school again. How I wish I were Mom and Dad's good boy.





How I wish all this never happened

Name: Little Tung
Age: 12
Offense: Manslaughter



I was put in detention for manslaughter. I have no idea how he died. I only wanted to teach him a lesson so that he wouldn't bully me anymore. But he died.

He was a ninth-grade student and a bully in my school. Every day at school, I was afraid that he might jump out from nowhere like a ghost. I knew that he would put his arm around my neck and give me a sarcastic grin: "It seems that you haven't paid your protection money again, Nerdy!"


"I... I don't have any money!"

"What? Go ask your daddy, then! Everyone else here pays me every day except you. You don't seem to take me seriously!"

"No... no... I don't dare..."


If I didn't pay him the money, he would beat me up until I cried and begged for mercy. And then he would laugh and call me a coward. I really hated him for that.

I didn't dare tell our teacher about him because I was afraid that he might hurt me even more. I didn't talk to Dad about it either. He would think that I was a coward and might even scold or beat me for that. If only Mom were still around. I miss her so much!

Mom didn't come see me very often after she and Dad got divorced. Dad was always busy with his work and had no time for me. When he did, he used the time to nag at my poor results and say that I was stupid. But I didn't like to study all the time. I liked to play video games because they made me forget how unhappy I was. I imagined the monsters in the games were the people I hated and I'd shoot them all down.

That day, I was sweeping the classroom when he came to threaten me again. I refused to give him the money. He hit me right in the face. I have no idea how I got the guts, but the next thing I knew I was beating him madly with the broom in my hand. He screamed in pain. Other students who were standing by the side thought it was fun, so they joined in and beat him too. Finally, he went down on the floor.

"The teacher's coming," someone shouted. All of us ran away. After a while, the police came to our school and I was arrested. At first I thought they just wanted to take my report. It wasn't until the policeman told me he was dead that I began to panic. I didn't mean to kill him. I only wanted to scare him off.

Dad looked sad when he came to see me. He didn't scold or beat me as he would usually do. He just stayed silent this time. Mom came to see me too. I felt it ironic that we finally had a reunion under such circumstances.

In the detention center, I have nightmares every night. I dream that he's coming to get me. Sometimes I dream that I'm being executed... I'm so scared. What'll I do now? How I wish all this never happened.




It was only an impulsive move...

Name: Ah-mu
Age: 17
Offense: Robbery


That day, my cousin and I were going to our Grandma's house. Halfway there, our motorcycle was getting low on gas. We didn't have enough cash, so I suggested that we steal some. My cousin didn't dare, so I yelled at him: "You're such a coward! We won't get caught if we do it somewhere out of the way."

Actually, I was pretty nervous too. I thought the people on the road were all looking at me, as if the word "thief" was written on my forehead. My cousin was even more nervous than I was. He wanted to back out of it, but I dragged him in.

We came to a quiet street and spotted a woman walking with a handbag in her arm. We had no idea if she had any cash, but she was alone and looked defenseless, so we decided to grab her purse.

As we came up behind the woman, my heart almost stopped beating and my hands were sweating. We snatched her handbag from her and I could hear her scream. My mind was blank. I kept running, and then I heard someone shouting behind me, "Stop, stop." I realized people were chasing after us, and some of them were coming after us on motorcycles. Since we couldn't possibly run faster than the motorcycles, we were captured on the spot.

We were sent to the police station. At first, I thought they would only give us a dressing-down and a warning. I didn't expect to be sent to the detention center, and I still have no idea what kind of a sentence I'm going to get.

I never thought that an impulsive move like that would bring so much trouble. I really feel sorry for getting my cousin into trouble. I shouldn't have spent all my pocket money in the video parlor, otherwise I wouldn't have been short of money and I wouldn't have tried to steal some on the street.

Dad and Mom were very sad about the fact that I tried to steal some money. They were really shocked too, since I used to be a good boy. I always helped them in the rice fields when they needed me. Now that I committed such a serious crime, they must be very disappointed with me.

I hope I'll be released soon. When I'm free again, I'll definitely stop going to the video parlor. If I'm ever short of money again, I'll talk to my family instead of doing bad deeds.




I couldn't resist those temptations...

Name: Wei
Age: 18
Offense: Drug violation, burglary


Ever since the sixth grade, I've often been in police stations and the juvenile detention center. I remember the first time I was taken to a police station, it was because some friends and I stole a motorcycle. The police came to our school to arrest us. I really felt scared and sorry then. I was really grateful to our teacher when she came to bail us out of the police station. I used to be really mean to her. Once I even attacked her with a chair.

I got special guidance for four months. During that time, I made a firm resolution to become a good boy. However, I couldn't resist all those temptations. Before long, I did like my brother and sniffed glue and joined an underworld gang. I thought I was really cool mixing with those people.

My parents divorced when I was very young. Mom remarried when I was in the first grade. My brother and I stayed with Mom and her new husband. When I was in fifth grade, my stepfather left home and never came back. My brother and I were fatherless again.

After our stepfather left home, Mom worked day and night and didn't pay much attention to us. She only scolded or beat us when she knew that we were going around with bad company. But the more she yelled at me, the more I rebelled against her. I felt no warmth in the family and I hated going to school. When I was in sixth grade, I began to skip school and run away from home. There was a time when I didn't go back home for more than a year. Then I went home because I needed money. Mom broke down in tears when she saw me. She began to show concern for me and treated me very nicely. She begged me not to run away again. But I was afraid that her care for me wouldn't last for long. So after a week I ran away again, thinking that my absence would make Mom more concerned for me.

When I was away from home, I worked as an electrician and construction worker. I even sold drugs. I didn't want to take any drugs at first, because I was afraid that I would become addicted. But my friends talked me into doing it by saying that I wouldn't get addicted by taking it just once. I tried it and I got so excited that I couldn't sleep the whole night. Before I knew it, I was addicted to amphetamines.

In the meantime, I'd been arrested several times for burglary and went in and out of police stations and the juvenile detention center. Mom was very disappointed with me. She could only see me in police stations and the juvenile detention center, because I avoided her at other times.

I've lived a peaceful life here for more than a year now. Sometimes, I think to myself that it would have been so good if Mom and Dad had never gotten divorced and I could have grown up normally like other kids.