suspects on trial in religious events arbitrarily without resorting to options such as holding
separate events for criminals and their accomplices and utilizing unused space to accommodate
both convicted inmates and detained suspects on trial.
Overcrowding at Detention Facilities
On November 5, we conducted an ex officio investigation of human rights violations incurred
by overcrowding at detention facilities and recommended that the Minister of Justice implement
measures of the highest priority such as the expansion of living space for female inmates,
of those released on parole such as easing the criteria for the selection of those qualified for
parole. We recommended that the Prosecutor-General of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office reduce
pre-trial detention by observing the presumption of innocence and conducting investigations
without physical restraint.
We recommended that the Prime Minister form a council of relevant ministries, such as the
Ministry of Justice, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and Ministry of Economy and Finance,
and promptly resolve the issue of overcrowding at detention facilities. We also recommended
that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court reduce pre-trial detention by realizing the principle
of trials without physical restraint.
We have made recommendations to improve the overcrowding at detention facilities and
consequent human rights violations more than ten times since the inception of the Commission.
However, the accommodation rate (ratio of the actual number of inmates accommodated to the
total capacity of facilities) has been on the rise since 2013 and reached 115.4% as of the end
of 2017. In particular, the accommodation rate of detention facilities near large cities stood at
124.3%, which is 8.9% higher than the national average. The situation regarding female inmates
is worse. The accommodation rate of the Busan Detention Center, the nation's only correctional
facility dedicated to women, stands at 185.6% and requires urgent improvement.
Overcrowding poses an even more serious problem during the hot summer months and cold
winter months. Inmates are often caught up in quarrels, refuse to stay in cells with others, and
thereby suffer punishment. We concluded that the overcrowding at detention facilities represents
a failure to meet the minimum standards for facilities accommodating people and a violation
National Human Rights Commission of Korea Annual Report 2018
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Part 2 | Commission's Major Activities
develop measures to build and expand detention facilities, and seek ways to increase the number