At 9 a.m. on the 29th, at Hwaseong Vocational Training Prison in Gyeonggi Province. As we entered the facility, surrounded by a 5-meter-high concrete outer wall, the unexpected aroma of baking bread hit the nose. Following the smell led to the baking technician practice room in the education building. After opening the heavy barred door and entering, some 20 inmates in white work clothes were busy piping dough with pastry bags.
They are inmates selected from correctional facilities across the country who have gathered here with the goal of obtaining a baking technician certificate. With the goal of "living a new life through skills," their ages range from their 20s to their 70s. Classes run on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The curriculum consists of three months of theory classes and three months of practical training.
There is only one chance to take the written test after finishing the theory classes. If they fail, they must return to their original prison. That is why inmates cannot help but study hard. Unlike the usual baking technician pass rate, which hovers in the 40% range, Hwaseong Vocational Training Prison's pass rate reaches 98%.
Hwang Cheol-myeong, a technician in charge of confectionery and baking education here, said, "Except for one or two people each year, most obtain the certificate," and added, "I want to show them that they can stand again in society through skills, not just study."
◇ Under strict control... 659 preparing to return to society
Hwaseong Vocational Training Prison, which the reporter visited that day, opened in Aug. 2009 for inmate education. Programs range from six-month courses to obtain caregiver, confectionery, baking, and Chinese cuisine technician certificates to two-year courses to obtain industrial engineer certifications in welding and automobile maintenance. There are also programs that help inmates find jobs with linked corporations after release. As of that day, 659 male and female inmates were participating in 26 training programs.
The procedures to enter here are strict. Each year, applicants are recruited from correctional facilities nationwide, and only a few are selected after a comprehensive evaluation of their willingness to return to society, criminal record, sentence length, and other factors. It is not a place anyone can enter just because they want to.
That afternoon, another classroom in the education building was in the middle of tile technician practice. Some 30 inmates were applying mortar to cement walls and attaching tiles. The class teaches on-site skills, from basic tasks like "stringing the line" to cutting tiles. A correctional officer on site said, "The tile technician certificate can bring a daily wage of up to 300,000 won in the field, so it is very popular among inmates."
The class atmosphere seemed relatively free, but control was strict. The classroom windows were blocked with thick iron bars, and the door was locked with a padlock the size of a fist. To get from the prison entrance to the education building, one had to pass through five to six iron gates. All doors are opened and closed directly by correctional officers.
Closed-circuit (CC) TV cameras were installed throughout classrooms and hallways, leaving few blind spots. The screens are monitored 24 hours a day from the central control room. If an abnormal situation occurs, it is immediately relayed via the trunked radio system (TRS).
A correctional officer said, "This is clearly a prison where criminals are gathered," and added, "If we let our guard down even for a moment, it can lead to an incident." Not only fights between inmates but also assaults on correctional officers occur from time to time, the officer said. In fact, that day, a fight broke out between inmates in the housing unit, and the crisis response patrol team (CRPT), wearing protective equipment, was dispatched.
◇ Correctional facilities reach the limit of overcrowding... Hwaseong Prison even takes pretrial detainees
The problem is that the capacity and staffing are far short of the recent increase in inmates. As of the 27th, the total number of inmates in prisons nationwide was 65,279 (including convicted and pretrial detainees), with an occupancy rate of about 129% compared with the capacity of 50,614. The occupancy rate of prisons near major metropolitan areas is already around 150%.
Hwaseong Vocational Training Prison is no exception. It was originally established for vocational training for inmates. But as the overcrowding problem in correctional facilities nationwide has worsened, it is also accommodating both pretrial and convicted inmates. Child sex offender Jo Doo-soon, who was recently sentenced to eight months in prison for allegedly violating an order restricting outings, is also incarcerated here. Hwaseong Vocational Training Prison currently holds about 1,800 people, with an occupancy rate of about 145% compared with capacity.
This is why vocational education for inmates is becoming more important. Research also shows that correctional education is effective in reducing recidivism. According to a 2013 report by the U.S. think tank RAND Corporation, inmates who participated in correctional education programs was found to have, on average, more than a 40% lower likelihood of being re-incarcerated than those who did not.
However, since there are limits to solving the prison overcrowding problem through vocational education alone, expanding capacity is also urgent. An official at Hwaseong Vocational Training Prison said, "The prison capacity and the number of correctional officers remain the same, but the number of inmates is increasing rapidly, so the workload is considerable," and added, "When building new courthouses and the Prosecution Service, there needs to be a system of installing detention centers together to resolve the prison overcrowding problem."
Jung Sung-ho, the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, who visited Hwaseong Vocational Training Prison the same day, emphasized, "Correctional reform is as important as prosecution reform." Jung said, "The annual expense per inmate alone reaches at least 30 million won," and added, "Reducing the inflow of criminals itself leads to a significant reduction in social costs." According to the Ministry of Justice, the socioeconomic cost caused by a single sex offender is about 294 million won, and for a drug offender, 1 billion won.
The Minister said, "Attention to correctional officers and correctional facilities is far too lacking," and added, "We will also work to improve their treatment."