Man kept in a 3.3-square-meter cell in Mokpo for a month with two other cellmates.

So reports the Hankyoreh, which says that the prisoner was confined thusly not merely for having contraband, as the prison says, but for making a complaint to a human rights commission over a beating he saw.

It was confirmed that the Mokpo Correctional Service confined three inmates, including Jeong, in the single-occupancy cell for one month in May. The two other inmates are: Lee Yong-seop, 49, who was punished for sending a letter of complaint to Cheong Wa Dae, and a 42-year-old inmate identified by the surname Seo, who was punished for refusing to transfer to a correctional facility in Cheongsong.


The Mokpo Correctional Service generally confines one person to a cell the size of the one used to hold Jeong, Lee and Seo. However, if inmates are ill, the correctional facility is required to carry out the punishment only after a course of treatment has been completed. At the time of their imprisonment in the single-occupancy cell, Jeong and Seo were suffering from allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis, while Lee was a diabetic. The correctional facility has been accused of allowing the three men’s illnesses to worsen.