Human Rights Commission: "Smart Visits Between Inmates and Minor Children Must Be Guaranteed"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Jo] The National Human Rights Commission has expressed the opinion to the Minister of Justice that it is necessary to improve related regulations and procedures so that smart visits between inmates and their minor children are not restricted. Smart visits are a system that allows visitors to communicate with inmates via PC or smartphone from desired locations such as home or workplace without visiting the prison or detention center.

On the 25th, the Human Rights Commission stated, "While general visits and video visits are allowed for inmates undergoing trial, these have more restrictions and inconveniences compared to smart visits." The Commission added, "Considering that the smart visit system is a discretionary measure and currently in its early stages, it is necessary to actively allow it when the visitor is a minor child seeking to visit a parent," emphasizing, "The visitation rights of minor children are not only constitutional fundamental rights but also play a positive role in the psychological stability of minor children. It is highly necessary to support minor children in regularly visiting their incarcerated parents to maintain the parent-child relationship."

Previously, an inmate at a detention center requested the warden to allow continuous smart visits with his minor child. When the request was denied, he filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission. The detention center responded that smart visits are restricted for inmates undergoing trial according to relevant regulations, but during the COVID-19 situation, smart visits were temporarily allowed even for inmates excluded from the smart visit target group. However, the complainant demanded that smart visits be allowed continuously, not just temporarily.

The Human Rights Commission dismissed the complaint, considering that the detention center has an exception clause allowing discretionary approval of smart visits, that smart visits were temporarily allowed to the complainant due to the COVID-19 situation, and that it is difficult to see direct infringement of the complainant’s visitation rights. However, the Commission separately expressed the opinion that visitation with minor children should be guaranteed as much as possible.

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