“There are 35 prison guards to 4,000 prisoners in the prison that I’m heading to, and that bothers me, that worries me because who is there to protect the prisoners? Who is there to protect the guards? Who is there to protect me?” Journalist Rafael Rowe bluntly shares his fear in Inside the World’s Toughest Prisons before entering a poorly managed prison in Paraguay to become a prisoner himself. Showing the reality of each prison candidly, the Netflix documentary series is not only just appealing to irrationality, but also how such system affects individuals and the society. The same concern penetrates the South Korean public as issues such as whether the Korean inmate policy is effectively practicing correction of offenders have emerged.
Prisons thus far have not been at the center of public discussion. However, situations have changed when certain unreasonable treatments of the inmates caught the public’s attention. According to a report by Kyongbuk Daily in June, Sangju Prison, which is regarded as one of the most up-to-date prisons in Korea, faced issues with its water purification facility. This resulted in reduction of capacity and restricted water supply and severely damaged basic inmate rights.
Meanwhile, controversies over so-called hotel prisons have been causing public outrage since last year in Korea. Jeonju Prison, located in Jeollabuk-do, has announced that it installed karaoke facilities inside its healing space. This discourse has been ongoing with recent events that put inmate rights and the efficiency of prison management under evaluation. Korea needs to reexamine its current state of corrections and how it affects the society with examples from countries that are practicing better solutions.
The Korean Prison Status Quo
The purpose of prisons lies in punishment and rehabilitation. However, recently, government policies regarding imprisonment have shifted the focus to the latter. In fact, a detailed description promoting treatment programs such vocational training, medical care, and psychotherapy is uploaded on the official website of Ministry of Justice (MOJ). However, unlike how the government promotes, prisons still inflict severe violation against human rights, with overcrowding being one of them.
On recent visits to the nationwide correctional facilities made in the course of July by Park Bum Kye, the Minister of Justice, he emphasized the importance of solving overpopulation in the union. According to News1, the ratio of inmates compared to the capacity of correctional facilities in Korea is at 115.8 percent, which is much higher than that of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The issues have been imminent as hygienic conditions surfaced with the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the cells.
Despite the debates on the excessive human rights of the inmates, what actually happens inside the prisons is not what an ordinary person can think of from the outside. Inside the prisons, the basic claims of the minorities, such as the people with disabilities and sexual minorities, are at most risk. For instance, according to a report by Kyunghyang Newspaper, inmates with hearing impairment have trouble accessing their basic necessities because they are restricted to medical aid. With the situation being at such a stage, the problem not only involves violating standard rights, but also establishes discrimination.
Direction of Correctional Facilities
When dealing with human rights and the treatment of the inmates, discussion on efficiency is inevitable. However, there is no direct correlation between the environment of prisons and the effectiveness in disciplinary functions. According to Professor Song Hyojong (Department of Sociology), there is no empirical research that supports the claim that improving the environment of prisons hinders the function of them. Professor Song states that such claims in fact, have some connection to underlying sentiments for using taxpayer money into improving the environment for the prisoners.
As explained, the debate on the effectiveness of upgrading the quality of life of the prisoners has no link supported by research, although the social sentiment toward the prisoners urging for vengeance might be affected by the change. Improving prison conditions does not directly interfere with the foundational purpose of the prisons, which is the restriction on human freedom. Rather, improving prison conditions and reinforcing the rehabilitation function will assure that both the prisoners and the citizens have a secure life outside of the walls.
This is because the harsher the society is on criminals, the higher the crime rate is, according to Professor Song. As the society that disparages the human rights of criminals are more likely to deprecate the others’ human rights, interpersonal crimes are generally more likely to occur and vice versa. Therefore, inmate rights have a relationship with the general attitude towards human rights throughout the society. Considerations on inmate rights is not excessive or unnecessary but crucial not just for the inmates themselves but for the society where all will coexist after the prisoners’ rehabilitation.
Prisons in the Scandinavian nations have caught attention with their hotel-like exterior and their new perspective on inmate treatment. According to the Atlantic, officers in Nordic prisons are known for providing a role in both security and rehabilitation, which creates a stark contrast to Korean prisons. Nordic prisons focus on the community and the life afterwards for the inmates. The inmates actively engage with the community both inside and outside the prison. For instance, according to the Atlantic, inmates go outside the fences for work or study each day at an open prison located in Suomenlinna, Finland. They are also able to connect with their family through a monitored system. Also, according to BBC, recidivism in Norway has fallen from 20% after two years since the change unlike the United Kingdom (UK) which has a rate of 50% after a year.
With these examples as a general guideline for the direction of correctional facilities in Korea, policies to improve the condition of the inmates should be implemented, especially in relation to their families. “Policies for the inmates to maintain their relationship with their families and to free them from social stigma has to be implemented based on empirical studies,” comments Professor Song, highlighting the importance of protecting inmate rights. For them to readjust to the society after they serve the sentence, it is imperative for the government to help them maintain connection with what awaits them outside of the prison cells.
The enclosed nature of prisons and correctional facilities allows systemic neglect of inmates' human rights; if anything, it could actually trigger the public's attention. Although the current measures such as installing karaoke may seem superficial since they only provide temporary solutions and distract the deep-rooted problems of correctional facilities, the direction of the corrections in Korea is still clear. The inmates might be released with a record stained with their crimes, but their minds can come out with a clean slate with the help of the government and the society to achieve a new life outside of prison.