Mooncakes made by Taitung inmates sell out

Mooncakes made by Taitung inmates sell out

2026-08-28

To celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, inmates at Taitung’s Taiyuan Prison make and sell mooncakes. This year their cakes sold out fast! The program helps inmates learn marketable skills, and one even found work in the baking industry after release.

A man carefully wraps red bean and salted egg yolk in dough. After baking in the oven, these mooncakes are ready to eat. But this isn’t a bakery. It’s actually a prison. Here inmates make and sell mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Ah-lun
Inmate
It’s very rewarding to learn something new from scratch. Plus, lots of customers have said they like our mooncakes, egg yolk pastries, and mung bean cakes.

The inmates take pride in hearing that people enjoy their baked goods. Their “big brother” mooncakes, a Mid-Autumn Festival special, often sell out fast.

Chao Yen-po
Head of operations
We estimate that we make 30,000 to 35,000 mooncakes a year. The quantity of each variety is about what they can make over a two-week period. I think that one inmate’s family does this type of work, so he started helping with the family business when he went home.

Ko Huang-ming
Taiyuan Prison warden
It gives them a chance to learn baking skills. They also get some compensation for the work they do making them.

Learning to make mooncakes gives the inmates a lifelong skill. But these mooncakes can’t be delivered. People have to pick them up in-person at the Taitung District Prosecutors’ Office.

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