Input 2020.12.28 10:03
According to law enforcement officials on the 28th, some prisoners who were confirmed by Corona 19 at the Seoul East Detention Center on the 21st left the prison room. The prisoner was in a quarantine building in the Seoul East Detention Center, where it was reported that the door was forcibly opened and came out. However, it was reported that it was immediately suppressed without leaving the containment building.
The 21st, when the’inmate riots’ took place, was the day after Vice Minister Lee visited the Eastern Detention Center in Seoul to urgently inspect the corona19 group infection. From November 27 to December 16, the Seoul Eastern Detention Center started a full inspection on the 18th after 17 people, including employees, were diagnosed with Corona 19. As a result, it was revealed that an additional 185 people were confirmed with Corona 19.
At the time, Vice Minister Lee emphasized the importance of blocking the influx of Corona 19 in relation to the admission procedure for new prisoners, and requested that the company do its best to stabilize the Corona 19 situation. But the very next day, the prisoners’ riots took place.
An official from the Ministry of Justice said, “In the detention center, the commotion of prisoners takes place as usual.” However, another official from the legal profession said, “There was a riot of prisoners in the Seoul East Detention Center on the 21st and an information report was uploaded to the Ministry of Justice.”
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There are criticisms from inside and outside the legal profession that the Ministry of Justice has not responded properly to the mass infection in detention centers. On the 27th of last month, the Seoul East Detention Center conducted a full inspection on employees and detainees only three weeks after the first confirmed case. Hundreds of people have already been confirmed by Corona 19. The Ministry of Justice established an on-site countermeasure headquarters in the Seoul Eastern Detention Center on the 19th, when Corona 19 was already spreading out of control within the detention center.
Some point out that the Ministry of Justice failed to properly respond to the mass infection in the detention center because it was engrossed in shooting Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol. On November 27, when the first confirmed cases were released at the Eastern Detention Center, Justice Minister Chu Mi-ae demanded a disciplinary action against President Yun and issued an order to suspend his duties. Afterwards, Minister Chu continued to send out messages about the filming of General Yoon and reform of the prosecution, but did not send any messages about the mass infection in the detention center. It was the first time on the 15th that the Ministry of Justice made the first public announcement of the collective infection of the Eastern Detention Center.
As of the 27th, the number of corona19 confirmed cases related to the Seoul Eastern Detention Center increased to 528. There were 486 prisoners, 21 employees, and 21 family members and acquaintances. It is the fourth largest in history as a confirmed corona 19 group infection in Korea.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Justice decided to move the corona19 confirmed prisoners from the Seoul Eastern Detention Center to the North Gyeongsang Second Prison in Cheongsong, Gyeongsangbuk-do. This is because the second prison in North Gyeongsang Province has a large number of private rooms, making it easy to isolate corona 19 confirmed prisoners. The exact transfer scale has not been disclosed, but it is known that about 400 people are transferred excluding the elderly and those with underlying diseases. The Ministry of Justice said it would thoroughly block community infections, but protests continue in the Cheongsong area.
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