New Military Prison with Lounge Area Constructed

The name of the Army Prison will be changed to the Armed Forces Prison.

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The only military correctional and rehabilitation institution in the military, the Armed Forces Prison located in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, will be newly constructed for the first time in 35 years.

According to the Ministry of National Defense on the 14th, the Armed Forces Prison will be built on a site area of 27,314㎡ with a total floor area of 5,256.26㎡, consisting of two single-story buildings and one two-story building. A total project cost of 19.8 billion KRW will be invested, and it is scheduled to open in April 2022. The Ministry of National Defense will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the Armed Forces Prison on this day, attended by the Director of the Defense Investigation Headquarters and the Director of the Southern Gyeonggi Facilities Corps, among others.

The new Armed Forces Prison will be constructed on the current parade ground of the Armed Forces Prison, and once the new prison is completed in 2022, the existing Armed Forces Prison buildings will be demolished. The Armed Forces Prison was originally operated as the Army Prison in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul in 1949, and has been located in Janghowon-eup, Icheon-si, Gyeonggi Province since 1985. The new Armed Forces Prison is the first correctional facility in Korea to incorporate a 'dayroom' in its design. The dayroom, a communal living space for inmates during the day, is a facility introduced in advanced foreign correctional institutions such as those in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan.

In July, the Ministry of National Defense abolished the confinement system (Yeongchang system), which detained military personnel for disciplinary purposes in a designated place, after 124 years. The Yeongchang system was a concept of a detention center established by corps-level subordinate units to hold detainees who had not yet been sentenced.

The revised Military Personnel Act abolished the Yeongchang system and replaced it with military discipline education. Types of disciplinary actions for soldiers have been diversified to include demotion, military discipline education, pay reduction, and reprimand. Military discipline education consists of compliance and human rights education as well as interpersonal skills training. However, to maintain the deterrent effect of extending service periods that the Yeongchang system had, the military service period will be extended by the duration of the military discipline education received.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.