Prison Act Article 31

Inmates shall participate in work except where they suffer from a disease, where they are within the period of reception investigations, where they are placed under enhanced security, or where it is specified in other laws. To achieve the goals of assisting inmates to reenter the society, the supervisory authority may request the Ministry of Labor to assist prisons in ways of developing work programs and improving operational effectiveness.A prison shall consider inmates’ work based on sanitation, edification, economic benefits, the inmate's sentence, health, knowledge, skills, and abilities to rehabilitate their living after release. The prison shall also assign inmates to workshops inside or outside the prison or other specific places. After discussions with the inmate, the prison shall specify suitable work programs in the inmate’s individual treatment plan and it may be revised based on its authority when necessary.Inmates engaging in cooking, cleaning, repair and maintenance, caretaking, and other works assigned by the prison shall be regarded as work.An inmate working outside prison should return to prison within the designated period, or report to the designated institution if necessary. If an inmate does not return to prison or report to a designated institution within the designated period without a legitimate reason, the duration out of prison shall not be counted as time served and the inmate shall be regarded as an escapee.Regulations on the work programs inside and outside prison, selection criteria, group assignments, contract items, security management methods, and other requirements specified in Paragraph 2 shall be prescribed by the Ministry of Justice.The supervisory authority may request the Ministry of Labor to assist prisons in ways of developing occupational training programs and improving training effectiveness.