Excepting a six-year stint in prison following the Formosa Incident, four years as head of the Taipei City Government's Department of Social Welfare, and six years as chairwoman of the Executive Yuan's Council of Labor Affairs (CLA), she has lived there ever since.
接下來的 28 年裡，除了因為美麗島事件被判刑坐牢 6 年，以及 4 年的台北市社會局長和 6 年的行政院勞委會主委任期外，陳菊都在高雄度過。