NHRC advises Prison to Take Steps to Protect the Right to Privacy of Inmates
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRC) recommended the warden of the Mokpo Correctional Institution (MCI) to place partition walls around the toilets in the cells. After receiving a claim from two inmates, Bang and Lee (full names withheld), the NHRC sent the so-called "in-house investigation team" to check-out the facilities at the MCI.
In the MCI, there are 104 large cells that can hold 7 inmates, 46 medium-sized cells that can hold 5 inmates, and 170 small cells which are being used for a solitary confinement. In the large and medium-sized cells, there are partitioning walls surrounding the toilet with a sliding door, but in the case of small cells, there is only a 2 foot wall that separates the toilet area so that when the inmates use the toilet, the sounds and the odors can be heard and smelled. Furthermore, the institution lacks space for the evermore increasing inmates, so the small cells that had been built for solitary confinement are actually being used as cells to hold 2 to 3 inmates. When inmates use the toilet in these small cells, their private body parts can be exposed.
The MCI"s position on this matter is quite simple: they feel that placement of partition walls defeats the purpose of not having them in the first place. That is, the walls were not placed in order for the correctional officers to monitor the inmates more closely, since there have been many instances of suicide attempts behind closed walls.
To contest the MCI"s position, the NHRC presented their investigation on the 12 correctional facilities throughout the country and argued that 8 of them already have placed partitioning walls and the doors around the toilet area and rest of them have plans to install such walls.
Thus, the NHRC concluded that not having the partitioning walls around the toilet is irrational and constitutes an infringement on inmates" rights under Article 10 of the Constitution of Korea, which provides for the right to pursue happiness, dignity, and human value.
