NCJ Number
139652
Journal
Corrections in Asia and the Pacific Issue: 2 Dated: (September 1992) Pages: 4-6
Date Published
1992
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article describes the program of Korea's first open correctional institution at Chunan, which was established November 30, 1988.
Abstract
Consisting of 22 buildings on 15,768 square meters of land, the prison has no traditional escape barriers such as walls, locks, bars, watch towers, and armed officers. Built to accommodate 300 adult male inmates, the facility houses mostly traffic offenders sentenced to less than 2 years in prison. The staff consists of 101 uniformed officers, 4 educational officers, 2 classification specialists, 10 technicians, 2 medical officers, and 2 clerical employees. The inmate treatment program has three stages: a stage composed of a 2-week orientation and individual assessment, a stage of full participation in programs and privileges, and a prerelease stage that involves preparation for release. Major components of the prison program are the Inmate Self-Governing Association, a staff member responsible for counseling and assisting two to three inmates, vocational training, work release, prison industries, community volunteers, furlough, study tours in the community, and parole. Public prosecutors and law professors conduct classes and answer questions, and inmates and staff also work together in the cultivation of unused land around the institution. In 1990 the Korean Institute of Criminology in Seoul conducted a survey of inmates who had been released from the institution to obtain their views on the prison conditions and treatment programs. The institution and its program were given high marks by the respondents.