Human Rights Commission "Correctional Facilities' Inadequate Response to COVID-19 Cluster Infections... Recommends System Improvements"

Investigation of Last Year's Mass Infection at Seoul Eastern Detention Center
Non-compliance with Key Quarantine Rules Such as Social Distancing Confirmed
"Confirmed Case Management and Preparedness Should Have Been Implemented"

A detainee at Dongbu Detention Center in Songpa-gu, Seoul, is showing the press a note he wrote himself expressing complaints about overcrowding of confirmed cases and the ban on sending letters. 2020.12.29.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] The National Human Rights Commission conducted an investigation into the COVID-19 cluster infections that occurred last year in correctional facilities including Seoul Dongbu Detention Center and confirmed inadequate responses by the correctional institutions.

On the 16th, the Human Rights Commission announced that it recommended the Minister of Justice to issue institutional warnings to the relevant correctional facilities and to improve the medical and management systems for confirmed inmates.

The victims who filed complaints with the Human Rights Commission were inmates of Seoul Dongbu Detention Center and Seoul Detention Center; some were diagnosed with COVID-19, and one person died. The detention centers that responded to the investigation stated that "they tried their best to take appropriate measures during a serious crisis," emphasizing the limitations of personnel at the time and the unavoidable overcrowding situation in the correctional facilities, the Commission reported.

However, through investigations by related agencies and expert consultations, the Human Rights Commission partially confirmed that the correctional facilities failed to respond adequately to the COVID-19 cluster infections from December last year to January this year.

First, Seoul Dongbu Detention Center did not notify individuals of their COVID-19 test results and refused to confirm the results. Immediately after receiving the first round of mass testing results on December 18 last year, 185 close contacts were kept waiting together in one space for four days without maintaining social distancing or following other key quarantine rules. Among them, 98% were eventually diagnosed with COVID-19. Furthermore, after notifying the results of the second mass testing on December 24 of the same year, close contacts with different infection routes were housed in the same living room, and symptomatic individuals were not separated.

Additionally, Seoul Detention Center was found to have neglected management of high-risk patients by failing to provide underlying disease data of confirmed inmates to the public health center and epidemiologists, and by not requesting bed allocation for high-risk inmates. Also, after a COVID-19 positive inmate lost consciousness and collapsed, cardiopulmonary resuscitation should have been performed immediately but was only carried out 36 minutes after the situation was recognized. Staff were unaware that confirmed COVID-19 patients in emergency situations should be transferred to a nationally designated specialized hospital in Gyeonggi Province, and the inmate died while negotiations for hospital transfer were underway.

The Human Rights Commission pointed out, "Because correctional facilities have the characteristics of '3Cs' (closed spaces, crowded places, close-contact settings), the risk of COVID-19 cluster infections remains even with thorough prevention and management," adding, "Considering the poor facilities and medical personnel in correctional institutions, inspections and preparations should have been made to enable management of confirmed cases equivalent to general life treatment centers."

Based on this judgment, the Human Rights Commission recommended to the Minister of Justice ▲ improvement of medical and management systems for COVID-19 confirmed inmates ▲ strengthening management and supervision to ensure compliance with emergency response guidelines and manuals ▲ dissemination of related cases. It also requested the Korea Legal Aid Corporation to provide legal assistance to the bereaved families.

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