Established in 1896 and originally located at No.3, Xinsheng Street, Taichung City, Taiwan, the prison was first named ‘Taichung Prison Agency,’ but in October 1900, with the revision of prison officers, it was renamed ‘Taichung Prison’ and placed under the Taiwan Governor-General Office.  Since then, its title went through several changes, from ‘Taichung Penitentiary’ in 1924, ‘Taiwan Second Prison’ in 1945 after the Recession of Taiwan, ‘Taiwan Taichung Prison’ in February 1946 to ‘Taichung Prison, Agency of Corrections, Ministry of Justice,’ after being subordinated to the Agency of Corrections, Ministry of Justice which was formed in 2011.Since the initial establishment, Taichung Prison has been around for over a century.

Due to its aged buildings and limited lands in downtown Taichung which not only affected the city development but also could not accommodate yearly increased inmates, Taichung Prison could no longer to meet the requirements of criminal policy at modern times and in consequently acquired a new site at suburban area in 1986.  The construction of new structures began in April 1989 and completed in October 1991, then the prison was officially operated at this new location on January 24^th, 1992.  Currently, the prison owns approximately 20 hectares of lands including an enclosed guarded area of 9.88 hectares which is 380 meters deep and 260 meters wide with total floor area of 785,484 square feet.  The administrative building is the first building of the structure complex, following it is the guard and medical center which is connected with the central corridor.  There are 3 individual educational blocks on each side of the corridor and each of the blocks carries out exclusive corrective treatment for different and classified groups of inmates.

With rapid growth in the numbers of inmates in recent years, the prison was facing a plight of overcrowding.  To overcome the situation and make good use of deserted space, also to fulfill regional establishment and perform the middle treatment function of open jail, Ministry of Justice granted Taichung Prison the Second Educational Block of Taichung Women’s Prison as its Open Prison which was initiated on September 1^st, 2015.