General Society: Society: News: Hankyoreh 21

The situation at the Seoul East Detention Center has caused a lot of heartbreaking, but on the other hand, I hope that this will lead to interest in the entire facility and improve the treatment of detainees. I have moved the correctional facility twice so far. ○△, △○, to this place ○○. During my stay at the correctional facility, there wasn’t a single day that wasn’t difficult due to overcrowding. Anywhere. As you may already know, overcrowding in prisons was decided by the Constitutional Court in 2016 to require revision. According to the ruling at the time, it stipulated that at least 2.58㎡ (0.78 pyeong) or more must be secured per person in the prison. However, this sentence, which was sentenced five years ago, does not really mean anything to the prisoners. Because in ○○ and in △○ and ○△, I have never experienced the living area equivalent to about 1 pyeong per person. Even in △○, I slept in’Kaljam’ while living 15 people at a time. (Omitted) The detainees here responded that they thought it would be after reading the news of the Eastern Detention Center. In addition, I live day by day with a sense of fear that it could be (here) as I hear the news of the confirmed status of the Eastern Detention Center and even death.

A scale of 1 pyeong that you have never experienced

Last week, the correction center started handing out masks. This ○○ is 5 sheets a week. However, mask payment is not a fundamental solution. Talking about putting prisoners in a confined space and stopping the virus with only a mask is like putting a mask on the chickens in a chicken coop to beware of viruses. When an avian influenza occurs, does it kill chickens not only in that facility, but also in all surrounding facilities? This is because quarantine is impossible due to the structure of the facility. (Omitted) What is the biggest problem with overcrowding in correctional facilities? It is that the fundamental solution of’sanitation’ is impossible. The basis for preventing the spread of the virus is personal/facility hygiene. However, due to the overcrowded structure of correctional facilities, personal hygiene is severe. There are almost 100% illnesses when you enter this place. Most of them are skin diseases and allergies. Most of the prisoners live with itching, rash, and abnormal symptoms on the skin. Here, they are often referred to as “jailed soldiers.” What do the inmates here want to do first after being released? Meeting a loved one? Eating food you couldn’t eat to your heart’s content? Most of them say that they want to wash with clean, warm water first, and prisoners are forced to live with little medicine. When you complain of a disease to a doctor who is responsible for the health of the entire prisoner here, there are antibiotics that they provide like a machine. The examination is also completed in 10 seconds. (syncopation)

Just telling me not to go to the Dongbu detention center transfer personnel building.

There are 7 people living in ○○ in one room. There is only one toilet in the sanitary facility in this narrow space. Lower the toilet seat cover and place a dishwasher on it to become a sink. If you put clothes on it, it becomes a washboard. When you put the cover back, it becomes a toilet. In one bathroom, the size of a public toilet booth, we do work, wash, wash dishes, and do laundry. It’s cold water that doesn’t even heat up and feels like freezing your hands in -17 degrees Celsius. You don’t have to wash it in the bathroom, but if someone is in a hurry, you have to finish it in a hurry. As a result, personal hygiene is gradually pushed back and priority is given to solving basic needs. (Omitted) As the prison was upgraded to three stages of (social distancing), the use of the bathing facilities prescribed for 10 minutes once a week was suspended. This is not a measure to stop the spread of the coronavirus, but rather to encourage the spread. (Omitted) Last week, all prisoners here were tested for Corona 19. Fortunately, all voices came out. But it’s hard to deny that this is because of your luck. The prisoners who have recently been deported from the Eastern Detention Center and the former ○○ prison prisoners share one floor. The guards have nothing to do except to warn them not to go to the building where the Eastern Detention Center transfer personnel live. People here say that winter is cold, but winter is better. In summer, it’s hard because of the person next to you who bumps into even if you move a little with the heat and sweat. It’s harder especially when you sleep. Last summer, 8 people and 9 people stayed together in this room. Then you have to lie on your side and sleep. I bump into someone next to me. Many detainees are prescribed sleep-inducing drugs and are often barely falling asleep. (syncopation)

Multiple punishment beyond punishment

It is clear that a prison is a facility built for execution. However, overcrowding and unclean and inadequate sanitation facilities are putting the double pain and responsibility on the prisoners. Infectious diseases such as sickness and coronavirus, and even deaths such as in eastern detention centers, are no different than multiply punishment that is dehumanizing, non-dignified and unsanitary. It is said that you can see the real state of the country by looking at the prison. Looking at the prisons in Korea, I think that there are still many ways to go. I am very saddened by the Eastern detention center crisis, and it hurts more to change little by little after each incident, but I hope this opportunity will improve the treatment of prisoners and lead to a better society. January 2021 inmates a raised

A lot of heartbreaking things have arisen due to the situation at the Eastern Detention Center, but on the other hand, I hope that this will lead to interest in the entire facility and improve the treatment of detainees. I have moved the correctional facility twice so far. ■■, ▲▲, to this place ○○. During my stay at the correctional facility, there wasn’t a single day that wasn’t difficult due to overcrowding. Anywhere. As you may already know, overcrowding in prisons was decided by the Constitutional Court in 2016 to require revision. (Confirmation of violation of overcrowding in detention centers. Constitutional Court sentenced on Dec. 29, 2016, 2013 Heonma 142 decision) According to the ruling at the time, it is stipulated that at least 2.58m2 per person should be secured. However, this sentence, sentenced five years ago, has no meaning to the prisoners. Because in ○○ and in ▲▲ and ■■, I have never experienced the living area equivalent to about 1 pyeong per person. In ▲▲, we even experienced “Kaljam,” where you had to lie down and sleep on your side while living 15 people at a time. The correctional headquarters is not entitled to use that name. If you have a conscience, you should not use the name’correction’ facility. There are no corrections here; the prisoners here responded to the news that they thought it would. In addition, I am living day by day with a sense of fear that it could be like that while hearing the news of the confirmed status of the Eastern Detention Center and even death. Last week, the correctional headquarters started handing out masks. This ○○ is 5 sheets a week. However, the payment of masks is not a fundamental solution to the spread of the virus in prison. Talking about putting prisoners in a small space and stopping the virus with only a mask is like putting a mask on the chickens in a chicken coop to watch out for viruses. In fact, when avian influenza occurs, chickens not only in the facility but also in all surrounding facilities are killed? This is because quarantine is not possible due to the structure of the facility. Also, did you know that viruses such as avian influenza originate from factory farming of several poultry in one facility? And the fact that the virus keeps transforming and getting stronger. Given the principle of viral transformation, where more efficient mutations survive and become stronger in the process of rapidly spreading and spreading in confined spaces, the Korean-style corona transformation will come from correctional facilities. If there is no fundamental overcrowding solution, the correctional facility will become a virus farm in Korea. ■ HygieneWhat is the biggest problem with overcrowding in correctional facilities? It is that the fundamental solution of’sanitation’ is impossible. The basis for preventing the spread of the virus is personal/facility hygiene. However, the overcrowded structure of correctional facilities has a terrible level of personal hygiene. There are almost 100% illnesses when you enter this place. Most of them are skin diseases and allergies. Most prisoners live with itching, rash, and abnormal symptoms all over the skin. In this case, they are referred to as “jailmen.” What is the first thing the inmates here want to do after being released? Meeting a loved one? Eating food you couldn’t eat to your heart’s content? Most people say that they want to wash with clean, warm water. If you live here, even the healthiest person will suffer from “jailbreak”. Detainees are forced to live with little or no medicine, and there are antibiotics that they provide like machines when they complain of a disease to a doctor who is responsible for the health of the whole prisoner. (The checkup procedure is finished in 10 seconds. It’s too bad.) It’s life here to eat and hold on to that antibiotic. I also take antibiotics 3 times a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner). Isn’t it really no different from a chicken coop? It is an environment that is pushed into a small facility and given antibiotics, and there are 7 people at ○○ in one room. The only sanitary facility in this narrow space is the bathroom. Public toilet booths In one toilet, we do work, wash, wash dishes, and do laundry. Every day’barely’. No heating and cold water that feels like freezing your hands in -17 degrees of weather. It is a very small space, so if you lower the toilet seat cover and place dishes on it, it becomes a sink. If you put clothes on it, it becomes a washboard. When you put the cover back on, it turns into a toilet bowl, and there is nothing to do with rinsing with cold water that seems to be freezing. Even so, if you use the bathroom to wash and the toilet of someone in the room becomes urgent, you have to finish it in a hurry. As a result, personal hygiene is gradually pushed back and priority is given to basic needs solving. We must eat, wash, and wash our clothes every day. However, virtually all sanitary activities are impossible except to address basic needs. In this overcrowding system, correctional institutions are implementing an administration in a way that transfers personal hygiene responsibility to detainees and only detains them. Like the chickens in a chicken coop. Then, when I get sick, I give antibiotics. It seems that the Ministry of Justice’s behavior of giving out masks in a hurry belatedly about the spread of the coronavirus here still does not seem to be grasping the essential problem. Even water doesn’t come out well from the bathroom. Imagine having 1700 detainees eating at the same time at the same time, and when they’re finished, everyone carrying a bowl to the bathroom and washing dishes. Water doesn’t come out after eating like this for breakfast, lunch and dinner. (Probably there will be a place close to the water tank) So, all the hygiene from the daily hygiene of the bowls you put in your mouth, the resolution of your basic bowel movement needs, and the laundry of your clothes are all over the place. The treaty, the state’s obligation to dignity as a human being, is ignored here for reasons that it cannot be helped, and what is it that cannot be helped? Each individual lives the same life as a chicken in a chicken coop. Please wash it. Please wear clean clothes. Make sure to use a clean blanket. Make sure to use the toilet bowl only for urine and feces. There are bathing facilities prescribed by law in correctional facilities. The number of times of use of this facility is regulated by Presidential Decree and is limited to once a week. (Matters necessary for the execution of sentences and the treatment of prisoners in Chapter 4, hygiene and medical care, Article 33 exercise and bathing, paragraph 2, exercise time and number of baths, etc., shall be determined by Presidential Decree.) Do you take a bath once? It must be fixed urgently. Once a day. In addition, the prison has been upgraded to three stages, and the use of bathing facilities is suspended once a week for 10 minutes. This is not a measure to stop the spread of the coronavirus, but rather to encourage the spread. In order for the prison to not become a virus-positive camp, the correctional facility must be responsible for the hygiene of each prisoner. The clothes and blankets worn by the individual must be washed regularly and frequently, and the correctional headquarters ensures that the prisoners live in an environment free of germs and viruses. Take responsibility. Bathing facilities should be made available at least once a day every day, and hygiene facilities (bathing, laundry) should not be restricted to keep the individual’s body clean. You should provide an environment in which you can wash the utensils you eat and use. Toilet bowls should be used for toilet purposes only. In addition, the responsibility for all this hygiene must not be passed on to the detainee. The Department of Justice is obligated to take full responsibility for the hygiene of all personnel in the facility. If it is a conscientious state institution. Here, hygiene products are provided once a month. Toothpaste 1 Toothbrush 1 Laundry soap 1 Toiletry soap 1 This is how it is provided. In addition, the rest of the sanitary products are purchased and used by individual prisoners. Such as detergent for washing dishes, shampoo, foam cleansing, powder detergent. Hygiene products necessary for basic human life must be provided without lack. The responsibility and cost should not be passed on to the detainee. You should also wash your personal clothes and blankets to keep them clean. You must allow inmates’ clothes and blankets to be washed in a washing machine, where ○○ has a washing machine, but does not wash personal clothes. This is why the washing machine may break down if you wash the clothes for a large number of people. Just because of the durability of the washing machine, prisoners here are constantly exposed to unsanitary conditions, causing their bodies to fail. In the current method of hand washing with ice water on the toilet bowl, detainees cannot wear clean clothes no matter what efforts they make. It needs to be revised. Otherwise, it will be the most dangerous quarantine facility in Korea, where the coronavirus spread from correctional facilities and even the appearance of a modified virus occurs. This is an important step in improving the spread of health care epidemics not only in prisoners, but throughout Korea.■ TreatmentA large number of prisoners here live with skin diseases and allergies. To be treated, you can apply for a weekly treatment and see a doctor, who will mechanically prescribe antibiotics. I don’t think there will be any other way than to prescribe such’mechanical’ medicines for one doctor to take care of all prisoners. For the hygiene and health of prisoners, the number of doctors in charge should be increased. Mechanistic antibiotic regimen will create an environment that fosters viral resistance in prisoners. This will be the best environment for the generation of modified viruses and the best environment for new viruses to emerge.■ InspectionLast week, all of the prisoners here were tested for coronavirus. Fortunately, all voices came out. But it’s hard to deny that this is because of your luck. If even one person has a confirmed coronavirus, it is due to an overcrowded facility that is virtually impossible to contain. Even recently, prisoners who have been deported from Eastern detention centers and former ○○ prisoners share one floor. The guards have nothing to do except to warn them not to go to the building where the transfer personnel of the Eastern Detention Center live. Fortunately, all of the people deported from the eastern detention center were negative, but if one of them had a confirmed case, there would have been no way to stop the spread in the ○○ prison here. ■ Room layout structureThe structure of the facility here is basically a panopticon structure. Each room usually has 7 people. People here say that winter is cold, but winter is better. In summer, it’s hard because of the person next to you who bumps even if you move a little with the heat and sweat. It is especially difficult when sleeping. Last summer, 8 people and 9 people stayed in this room. Then you have to lie on your side and sleep. I bump into someone next to me. Living in a place like this has resulted in many prisoners suffering from sleep problems. That’s why many people barely fall asleep after being prescribed sleep inducing drugs. Probably, you will be amazed if you disclose information about the status of treatment in hospitals or the use of prescription drugs. There are many people who are so sick. But where did this pain start? The reason for this is overcrowding, and it is clear that the facility was built to house inmates isolated for execution. However, if overcrowding and unclean/poor sanitary facilities leave the double suffering and responsibility to the prisoners, and even cause illness and infectious diseases such as coronavirus and even deaths such as in eastern detention centers, this is certainly beyond the level of execution of the sentence. It’s no different from the multiple punishment of human rights, non-dignity, unsanitary, and the real state of the country can be seen by looking at the prison. Looking at the prisons in Korea, I think that there are still many ways to go. I am so saddened by the East Asian detention center crisis, and it hurts more to change little by little after each incident, but I hope this opportunity will improve the treatment of inmates and lead to a better society. 2021. 1. Prison inmates a raised. *Cover Story-Corona 19 Containment Facility Report
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