It represented the days Chen Shui-bian, former president, had languished behind bars in solitary confinement on suspicion of corruption and money laundering.
It rose to 32 before he was indicted and released on bail. Mr Chen's case has captivated the 23m people of Asia's sixth-biggest economy, crystallising a debate about the state of an ebullient democracy that in stark contrast to China, has made the transition from Leninist one-party state. His election in 2000 marked the peaceful transfer of power to the opposition after more than half a century of Kuomintang (KMT) rule.
Now the KMT is back in power after sweeping legislative and presidential elections early this year against Mr Chen's Democratic Progressive party. Over the past month, every detail of Mr Chen's detention has been chronicled by an obsessed media, down to the temperature of his bath water – often stone cold – to the quantity of thin gruel he ate when he finally abandoned a hunger strike against what he called political persecution.