Cramped prison conditions called a human rights violation

Posted on : 2013-03-08 12:26 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Catholic charity says that conditions faced by prisoners violate the constitutional right to human dignity
 

By Park Hyun-chul, staff reporter

A constitutional appeal has been filed claiming that jails that hold an excessively large number of inmates in a confined space are a violation of human dignity.

“Overcrowding in the Seoul Detention Center, which only provides 1.24 ㎡of space per inmate, represent a violation of human dignity, the right to pursue happiness, and the right to live in humane conditions,” said Kang Seong-jun, an activist with the Catholic Human Rights Commission, who filed a constitutional appeal on Mar. 7. This is the first time that a constitutional appeal has been filed concerning overcrowding in jails.

“In order to help reform prisoners and reintegrate them into society, which, after all, is the object of incarcerating them, prisoners should be allowed to live in conditions that are similar to ordinary society. However, the Seoul Detention Center is so overcrowded that male prisoners are not able to stretch out when they lie down to sleep,” Kang said in explaining the reason for his constitutional appeal. “This is a violation of human rights.”

After Kang participated in a gathering protesting the dismissal of irregular workers, a court ordered him to pay a fine of 700,000 won (US$645.40) for obstruction of business. When Kang refused to pay the fine, he was incarcerated for 17 days in Dec. 2012 in the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province. At the time, Kang was held in a cell holding six people that was said to be 8.96㎡ in size. But when he measured the area himself, he found it to only be 7.419㎡.

“With only 1.24㎡ of area per person, the cell was extremely cramped, so much so that it was difficult for an adult male with an average body size to stretch out their arms or legs,” Kang claimed. “The facility said that the cell was 8.96 ㎡. It seems like this includes the size of the bathroom, but even taking that into account, there is only 1.49㎡ per person.”

According to documents acquired by the National Human Rights Commission, the rules and standards for facilities operated by the South Korean Ministry of Justice stipulate that detention centers and prisons must provide at least 2.58㎡ of space for each inmate. This standard is less than half of the minimum 7m2 of space that Germany guarantees each inmate, and Seoul detention centers are not even abiding by this rule. The Ministry of Justice does not make public the details of its facility rules and regulations.

“We hope that this constitutional appeal will serve as an opportunity for Korean society to consider the overall standard of living and living environment. We also hope it will establish standards for the quality of life and space provided to inmates, which should preserve their dignity as humans,” the Catholic Human Rights Commission said.

In Jul. 2011, an inmate surnamed Jeong at a Busan prison filed a lawsuit against the government of South Korea requesting 71 million won (US$65,461) in damages. Jeong claimed that he had suffered mental and physical pain because of the inadequate facilities and routine human rights violations. The trial is still ongoing.

“Since I was living with six or seven other inmates in a tiny cell only 6.6㎡ in size, every night I had to sleep in contorted positions, which led me to suffer from panic attacks,” Jeong said. “Not only that, but when I refused to enter the cell, I was punished by being put into an interrogation cell that was less than 3.3㎡, which made my illness even worse.”

In 1984, a court in Braunschweig, Germany ruled that confining two people to a solitary cell that was 7.98 sq meters in size was a violation of the constitution, which guaranteed human dignity. And in 1985, a judgment by the Frankfurt court of appeals found that putting three people in an 11.54㎡ cell was unlawful for the same reason.

 

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