The behind-the-scenes story of the escaped prisoner Shin Chang-won was revealed through Busan Prison, the correctional facility in charge at the time. [Image source=Yonhap News]
[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] The behind-the-scenes story of escaped convict Shin Chang-won was revealed through Busan Prison, the correctional facility in charge at the time.
On the 3rd, Busan Prison introduced the escape incident of Shin Chang-won, who was an inmate at the prison, in the "Busan Prison 50-Year History" published to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the prison's opening.
According to the book, Shin Chang-won, who was an inmate at the time, meticulously planned his escape. Three months before the escape, he controlled his food intake due to constipation, reducing his weight from 80 kg to 60?65 kg over three months. This was to easily pass through the narrow bathroom ventilation duct. Additionally, one month before the escape, he asked a fellow inmate how to drive a car without a key.
Having completed his preparations, Shin Chang-won escaped around 2 a.m. on January 20, 1997, through the ventilation duct inside the prison bathroom. He then dug through the soil to enter a nearby construction site and climbed over the prison outer wall to flee.
Busan Prison explained that while serving his sentence, Shin Chang-won secured two metal saws from a warehouse, hid them in the soles of his sneakers, and brought them into his cell. He gradually cut the iron bars installed in the ventilation duct with the saws during the nighttime music broadcast. Furthermore, to conceal the cutting marks, Shin Chang-won fixed a wooden board with chewing gum to cover the affected area.
After escaping, Shin Chang-won stole a bicycle about 500 meters from the prison, entered a nearby farm, stole a suit, an overcoat, shoes, and a knife, and fled. At 6 a.m., he took a taxi onto the Gyeongbu Expressway and infiltrated Cheonho-dong, Gangdong-gu, Seoul. He threatened the taxi driver, did not pay the fare, and even took 10,000 won from him. He visited places where his cohabiting girlfriend before imprisonment worked but could not find her, then took a bus to Cheonan to hide.
After numerous tips and pursuits, on July 16, 1999, Shin Chang-won was arrested in an apartment in Suncheon, Jeollanam-do, where he was with his cohabiting girlfriend, following a tip from a gas pipe repairman. It was revealed that after his escape, Shin Chang-won committed robbery and theft about 105 times nationwide, stealing approximately 980 million won.
Busan Prison explained the reason for Shin Chang-won's escape as "a sense of despair over his life sentence, causing him to act violently and feel disgusted with prison life after being punished for smoking," adding that "he wanted to see his lover whom he had met before imprisonment and had complex grievances against the person who reported his crimes." They further added, "The Shin Chang-won escape case involved the deployment of 970,000 police personnel over 907 days."
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