Founded in 1936, the forerunner of Taiwan Hulien District Prosecutor’s Office was Hualien Harbor Branch Prosecutor’s Bureau, Taiwan Taipei District Court (during the period of Japanese occupation), was located on No.321, Jhongjheng Road, Hualien City. All local courts have been arranged by specialists appointed by the Government after Taiwan’s retrocession on October 25, 1945. On January 11, 1946, just one day before Hualien County Government was established, Taiwan High Court’s Prosecutors Office sent its chairman Song-yun Jheng to take over this. The name – Hualien Harbor Branch Prosecutor’s Bureau, Taiwan Taipei District Court – was immediately changed to Taiwan Hualien Harbor District Court Prosecutor’s Department. On July 2, 1952, the name was changed to the present-use name – Taiwan Hualien District Court Prosecutor’s Office. In October, 1951, there was a huge earthquake in Hulien City. The extent of the disaster was pretty serious. The County Government thus had an idea of moving the Prosecutor’s Office to Meilun District. The Head of Judicial Administrative Department, Yan-fen Jheng, knew that the building of Hualien District Court Prosecutors Office was too old to be used. To match with the local policy of moving and governing, the land of No.15, Fuchian Road, Meilun District, Hualien City (which was originally barren) was chosen for the new building for the Court and the Office. After schedules had been planned, construction started in October 1964 and was completed by the end of March, 1965. In April of the same year, this building started being used. Adjoining Hualien County Government, the new building’s size is 3.5780 hectares (for the Court and the Office together). The size of the office working area is around one hundred pin (1 pin = 6 feet square, in Japanese measurement). Behind the building is Meilung Mountain, while the Pacific Ocean is in the front. This is an ideal working place.
For over forty years, number of the Office staff had been increasing. The space for office rooms and storage of stolen items as evidence of theft or fraud became seriously insufficient. To improve the working environment and fulfil a plan for increasing the number of staff in the future ten years, with the permission of Ministry of Justice in 1996, it was planned to provide more space for office rooms and large stores for stolen items as evidence of theft or fraud. Because the Office was next to the national military missile base on its east, the neighboring area was limited for construction – the height for building had to be limited within 14 meters. To make effective use of land and resources, the new constructions were for office buildings and a large store on three floors above ground and on two floors below. The project officially started in 2003 and was completed in December, 2004. Its size is 10,669.44 square meters. This completed construction has a beautiful and dignified “Prosecutor’s Building.” The prosecutors in the past have poured lots of energy to improving office environment as follows.
A. Arranging the square in front of the Office and changing it into a garden: after striving for widening the road, because of the newly-built project, some trees need to be moved into the square in the courtyard. Among these, there are many over-one-hundred-year-old treasured trees such as Calophyllum inophyllum, Lagerstroemia subcostata, Ceiba pentandra, Terminalia catappa, old banyan tree, etc. These old trees now grow luxuriantly. Spectacular rocks dug out from the foundation of the newly-built building are used as artificial hills and the place now looks like a forest park. It has the most beautiful working environment among all the judicial institutes in Taiwan as well as supplying the best place for neighbouring inhabitants and people to enjoy relaxation.
B. Creating a culture and art corridor:
Hualien is the home of stones. Stones called “Golden Stone,” “Formosa Jade,” and “Rose Stone” are praised as Hualien’s three treasures. In our Office’s new prosecutor’s building, the three treasures are arranged in halls of elevators and prisoners’ art works, such as sand paintings and landscape paintings, are hung in every corridor. Entering in the court, the public or those directly involved can sense a warm and friendly atmosphere. Meantime, staff can also feel inspired by the culture provided.
Public art installations: erected in front of “Prosecutor’s Building,” one work, the second public art installation in Hualien County, stands for harmony and equality. This work, made for the building, was screened according to “Regulations of Public Art Installation.” The strip code carved on the work is a kind of sign for contemporary recognized objects. Two sides of the scale are the rotating brilliant red strip code and the irregular black strip code – the two of which stand for being strong and weak as well as being good and evil. Likewise in law, everyone is equal.