[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The National Human Rights Commission has ruled that excessively monitoring inmates with electronic video equipment such as closed-circuit (CC)TVs within correctional facilities constitutes a human rights violation.
On the 29th, the Human Rights Commission recommended that the warden of Prison A conduct surveillance or protection using electronic video equipment only minimally and when necessary, after assessing the risks such as the individual inmate's potential for extreme actions. They also advised providing job training related to electronic video surveillance to the affiliated staff.
Earlier, the Human Rights Commission received a complaint from a petitioner incarcerated at the prison, alleging human rights violations due to 24-hour electronic video surveillance from July last year to March this year. The prison argued that it continued electronic video surveillance on the petitioner after weekly correctional officer meetings, judging that the petitioner posed a significant risk of disrupting the safety or order of the correctional facility.
The Human Rights Commission stated, "Although the petitioner exhibited psychological instability by assaulting and verbally abusing correctional officers and inmates and banging their head against the wall," it also judged that "from the end of December last year to the end of March this year, when the prison determined the petitioner's psychological state had stabilized, continuing surveillance without special circumstances infringed on the petitioner's personal rights and the secrecy and freedom of privacy."
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