Police Office Lockups: A Human Rights Blind Spot (03-18-2003)
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) entrusted the Korean Advocacy for Human Rights in Prisons to undertake a four-month survey of human rights conditions of facilities and environment at "police box" and police office confinement cells (hereafter "jails") throughout Korea. This survey was divided into two parts; first, interviews of jail detainees (80 detainees confined prior to 2002 as well as 20 detainees detained during 2002 for a total of 100 survey respondents), jail guards (10 officers) and jail administrators (10 officers), and second, field investigations of ten jails in the Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon regions.
The number of detainees in the 231 police office jails located throughout the country reached 1,332,056 over the course of 2001, averaging about 3,600 detainees a day. However, such jails escaped the public eye and were not subject to public debate. Thus, there has been almost no systematic research conducted on the actual conditions at jails in Korea. As such, this survey is significant in that jails were singled out for a comprehensive investigation of the jails facility conditions as well as how jails are actually run. Furthermore, the survey results can be used as groundwork material to reform the human rights situation at police office lockups as well as evidence to support research on related laws. The results of this survey are as follows.
1. Lighting, Humidity and Heating and Air-conditioning
Overall, conditions relating to lighting, humidity and temperature control were found to be inadequate for detainees" daily life. The on-site inspection revealed that none of the jails had dispensaries or outdoor athletic fields-both of which are required according to the architectural standard for jails (Article 65 of the Established Rule of the National Police Agency)-and the lighting, ventilation and humidity levels were deplorable.
2. Heated Showers
To the survey question "the supply of heated water is adequate," 22.2% responded that "heated water is not supplied inside the jail cell facilities" and 54% responded that "heated water is never supplied at all." Additionally, 50% of the survey respondents reported that "the body is either partly or wholly exposed" when showering, revealing that a large proportion of detainees shower in the view of other detainees or shower without any screening materials when washing in jail bathing facilities. Moreover, the response, "was never able to have a shower," reached 31.9 %.
3. Bedding
The hygienic conditions of the bedding were extremely poor. There was lots of dust in the bedding; the laundering and storage of bedding were unfit; and the bedding reeked of foul odors and was damp to the touch. One could say that detainees were constantly exposed to infectious diseases.
4. Lavatories
83% of the survey respondents reported that "the lavatory dividers were low or very low." Thus, detainees complained that they refrained from using the lavatory for the first few days of detention, and because of the low height of the dividers, had to crouch down to lower their clothing, embarrassedly turned their faces away quickly when accidentally meeting the gaze of a guard in the lavatory, and shuddered at the sound of their bowel movements.
5. Food
The National Police Agency revealed that: the food served in jails is composed of 8 parts rice to 2 parts cereals; one meal is composed of such rice accompanied by three side dishes; and the cost per meal amounts to 866 Korean won (KRW) per person (in 1998, the meal cost was about 3,700 KRW per detainee in Japan). Responding to survey questions on meals, 93.7% of detainees replied: "the quality of the food was poor or terrible." Additionally, with regard to food donated to prisoners from outside organizations, 41.1% responded that: "Both meal cost and quality were substandard."
6. Access to Legal Counsel
The survey revealed that private meetings with legal counsel were limited by inadequate facilities. With regard to space for meeting with legal counsel, the most frequent response (59.3%) was that "a room was allotted for meeting with legal counsel," but a large number (37%) responded this was in "the head detective"s office or the criminal investigation department."
7. Medical Care
The majority of the jails do not have medical care providers or staff with expert medical knowledge; nor are the jails equipped with dispensaries or other medical facilities. The survey revealed that the yearly budget allotted to provide medical care to detainees was at the level of 300,000 KRW a year.
8. Treatment of Women, the Disabled and Non-Korean Nationals
In jails with cells for women, the facilities were not partitioned off such that the women detainees" daily life, including use of the lavatory, could be exposed to male guards and detainees. With regard to female detainees" use of feminine hygiene products: 58.3% responded that they "purchase [such items] personally (through visitors or parcel post)"; feminine hygiene products were not supplied in time; and the majority of women had been requesting such items through the male jail guard.
Although there were jails equipped with wheelchairs, crutches or toilets for the disabled, the majority of the jails and jail facilities" architectural structure prevented the use of a wheelchair. There were no facilities for visually- or hearing-impaired detainees.
There were no jails equipped with interpretation devices or other means of facilitating communication with non-Korean detainees.
9. Physical Exam
Although the National Police Agency has recently taken a series of measures to amend regulations relating to physical exams, the survey showed that the majority of detainees were unanimous in expressing negative views on the physical exam, responding "I felt humiliated and felt that they treated me with contempt," and "I felt sexually humiliated" thereby indicating that disputes over violation of human rights around the physical exam still remain.
10. Remedying Rights Violations
To the question "Were you informed of how to apply for a remedy of rights violations?" in contrast to the 48.5% who responded "Yes," 50.6% responded "No." Additionally, with regard to whether or not detainees had access to the laws or books relating to the legal code on remedy of rights violations, the number responding "No access at all" reached 60.5%.
11. Working Conditions of Jail Guards
Although there were minor differences among jails in terms of the number of jail guards and their work schedules, the study showed that overall, there were problems with the work environment. Jail guards identified "work hours are excessive" and "inadequate number of officers on duty" as their primary grievances.
12. Posting of Officers on Duty and Training
The survey results indicated that there were problems with the posting of officers on duty as well as training. Owing to the absence of a system for training jail guards, jail guards prioritized "prevention of accidents and proper guidance" over safeguarding human rights.
The Korean Advocacy for Human Rights in Prisons report on the facilities and human rights conditions of police office confinement cells presents, toward the guarantee, in actuality, of fundamental rights under the constitution and Korean law, recommendations for: the improvement of jail facilities and treatment of detainees; the strengthening of laws and regulations relating to jails; the thorough separation of detention and criminal investigation; the laying down of strict regulations on physical exams; practical guarantee of rights to legal counsel and communication with the outside; the provision of effective ways to remedy human rights violations; strict regulations on jail officers; and the setting up of a system for supervising and monitoring jail reform.
