Justice Ministry documents submitted to the responsible National Assembly committee for the Assembly's yearly review of government affairs reveal that there are only 65 doctors for country's prisons and detention centers when the rules call for there to be 88. The Seoul Detention Center has only four doctors, and there are only two each for the centers in Yeongdeungpo and Seongdong. And since they're not on duty at night it's almost impossible those who need it to get treated if they get sick after hours. There are public health specialists around when the doctors are not, but that is not sufficient.
Suggestions that there are many problems with medical services in prisons and detention centers are nothing new. In early 2003 the National Human Rights Commission issued a report on the seriousness of the situation, and it called for an improvement in areas such as inadequate funds for medical services in prison and the fact that there aren't the required number of doctors. In 2000 the Justice Ministry told the responsible National Assembly committee that it would increase the number of medical staff and bring medical services up to the level of individually run hospitals by the year 2004. The latest figures show you how the ministry's pledge to the Assembly ended up, in conclusion, to have been an empty promise.
International civil rights standards demand there be the same medical services for prison inmates as there are for regular citizens. Even if that can't be satisfied, the government has a basic obligation to see to it that prisoners return to society in good health. Without that it becomes difficult to achieve the basic goal of corrections: that prisoners be released as normal members of society.
Not that this is an easy issue for the government. It cannot give doctors the same wages as they would receive in regular medical institutions, and the unique particularities of detention facilities can't make it easy for it to secure the staff that's required. That being the case it should look for diverse alternatives, including increasing the number of public health specialists in detention facilities and working in cooperation with nearby private hospitals.
The Hankyoreh, 3 October 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Shameful Medical Services in Prisons |
