Punishment refers to a kind of unfavorable treatment against offenders to the extent that they violate the law during their time in correctional institutions. As a result, punishment is designed to help hold criminals in custody, seek to ensure the safety of prison officers and inmates, and maintain order within correctional institutions like prisons and detention houses.
The Criminal Administration Act ranging from the Article 45 to the Paragraph 2 of the Article 48 stipulates the rules to be observed by inmates, along with the types of punishment imposed on them and the procedures for imposing punishment on them. By doing so, it lays a foundation for imposing punishment on inmates if they violate the regulations. And its detailed enforcement regulations are based on the Enforcement Decree of the Criminal Administration Act(Article 140 to 151) and the Rules on Inmate Discipline and Punishment(Ruling No. 55 on Jun. 29, 2004).
The Criminal Administration Act in force has been revised seven times to protect and extend the human rights of inmates since it was first enacted as the law No. 105 on March 2, 1950. Paragraph 3 of Article 1 of the Criminal Administration Act makes clear the principle of respecting basic human rights. Paragraph 3 of Article 46 under the same law clarifies the prohibition against double jeopardy and the principle of proportional restriction. In addition, the Rules on Inmates Discipline and Punishment revised on June 29, 2002 are considered to contain some drastic measures by adopting the opinions from the "National Human Rights Commission of Korea."
Nevertheless, there have been continuous disputes over the human rights infringements caused by punishment and its enforcement. As mentioned before, this paper considers the disciplinary system as indispensable for maintaining order and safety in correctional institutions. However, it also explores whether there are any problems in applying disciplinary rules to inmates, if such rules are unnecessarily misused, and if a disciplinary system becomes an appropriate means to its original ends, by analyzing the current status of operating the disciplinary system in actual force. And it will discuss the problems of operating the current disciplinary system and how to improve them to ensure a better future. The End.