The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) announced on October 10 that it has recommended the Minister of Justice establish measures to address overcrowding in correctional facilities.
This recommendation comes in response to complaints that multiple detention centers and prisons have subjected inmates to overcrowded conditions, thereby violating their basic human dignity.
According to the NHRCK, inmates were found to be housed in spaces smaller than the 2.58 square meters per person stipulated in the "Guidelines on Classification, Transfer, and Recordkeeping of Inmates." Some inmates were held in spaces of 2.00 square meters for over 320 days, while others spent several days in areas as small as 1.28 square meters.
The NHRCK determined that overcrowding in correctional facilities violates Article 10 of the Constitution, which guarantees human dignity, value, and the right to pursue happiness. However, the Commission noted that the root causes of this issue are not solely attributable to individual correctional facilities. Instead, they are linked to an increase in the inmate population, the passive implementation of the parole system, difficulties in expanding and operating correctional facilities, as well as broader social factors such as criminal justice policy, the national budget, and site selection.
The NHRCK stated, "If the living space per inmate is so small that it fails to meet even the basic needs of a human being, such treatment in itself exceeds the permissible limits of the state's exercise of penal authority."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
