Taiwan's prisons are badly overcrowded and short-staffed, which is bad for guards facing burnout and heat exhaustion, and a warning sign for the justice ministry.

• A wave of fraud cases has pushed the inmate population up by more than 10,000 since 2022, to over 64,000.
• Guard numbers actually fell over the same period, because a national headcount law caps hiring.
• Each guard now watches almost 12 inmates, far worse than Japan, South Korea, or the ministry's own recommended level of six to eight.
• Guards are working 60 to 80 hours of overtime a month, and their hazard pay is less than half what police and firefighters get.
• Heat is the other problem: some facilities are so poorly ventilated that even the cold water taps run warm, leaving staff with skin infections.

Outlook: The opposition is pressing the justice ministry and personnel administration to lift the hiring cap and finally deliver the long-promised pay raise, but no timeline has been set.