Foreigners in a Korean Prison

I had some comments made by readers asking what prison conditions for foreigners in Korea are like. I had a chance to tour a Korean prison some time ago that foreigners were kept at, so my observations are a little dated. I was expecting some kind of medieval treatment of the prisoners by the Korean authorities but I ended up being very suprised by the tour. What is really humorous about the Korean prisons is the fact like many things in Korea, even they have their own “cute” character, Borami the Bear. Here is Borami’s message to everyone:

Then here is a message from the Ministry of Justice English Website.

Prisons that give “hope and courage” and are a “lighthouse” that “makes society a better place to live in”? Definitely doesn’t sound like medieval treatment to me. Hey sign me up, I want to go! Well I did get a chance to go and here is what the “lighthouse” looked like to me.

In the prison I saw Korean prisoners in groups of 4 all sitting on the floor in a small cell. The jailer said that only the bad prisoners are kept in groups like this in a small room. Each foreigner in the jail on the other hand had their own cell with a bathroom and a bed, in their own section of the prison, segregated from the rest of the prison population. Their rooms were also heated unlike the Korean prison population where they just had to use blankets to keep warm. Also the food for the US military detainees was provided by the military authorities every week. The food was mostly canned goods, cakes, vegetables, and fruit that they could cook on their own in their own kitchen. The Korean population all ate Korean food that seemed to consist of a lot of Ramen and kimchi provided by the prison.

The biggest suprise I saw was the fact that foreigners could have TV’s, videos, books, and games in their rooms. They even had computer access but no internet. Then the prisoners were allowed to go outside and play sports during the day whenever they wanted. The Korean population appeared to also be able to play sports but on rotational time line. Also the foreigners do not have to wear any prison uniforms like the Korean prisoners. The foreigners can wear regular civilian clothing. To top things off they even had their own karaoke machine. For being a prison the foreign detainees have a lot of additional freedom compared to a US facility.

I asked one of the jailers why the difference in treatment and he said it was part of the SOFA agreement to treat US detainees this way and foreigners in general because the Korean government does not want to be accussed of any human rights violations so they use the kid gloves on the foreign detainees. He also said that the foreign detainees are usually well behaved and have no problems with them even though some of them are in there for violent crimes.

I would definitely say that the treatment is definitely easier than a US military prison where life is much more strict and about the same as somebody in a US minimum security prison. About the only thing I didn’t see they had access to was a weight room. So when somebody gets sentenced to a ROK prison don’t feel to bad for them because they will get treated extremely well and they have the SOFA and Borami the Bear to thank for that.

For some additional Korean Prison info check out this link.