South Korea is pushing ahead with a plan to provide prison inmates with air conditioning, despite a public backlash at the use of taxpayers’ money.
The justice ministry on Tuesday said the cooling system upgrade in prisons would be a minimal measure to protect vulnerable inmates and correctional officers from the heat at a cost of 1.2 bn won ($779,000).
Defending the proposal, the ministry said the air conditioners would be installed in corridors and not in cells, and that it would act as an indirect cooling method.
The ministry will prioritise prison wings housing elderly inmates, people with disabilities and those with underlying health conditions. Several women’s units were also selected following assessments of overcrowding, physical vulnerability and overall detention conditions.
The ministry said the proposal was “the very least they could do to protect the lives and physical safety of inmates vulnerable to extreme heat.”
“We are reinforcing cooling facilities primarily in prison housing units that accommodate inmates vulnerable to heat-related illnesses, including the elderly, people with disabilities and patients,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The Ministry of Justice has continuously pursued measures to respond to extreme heat and prevent heat-related illness, including operating cooling shelters and providing iced water,” it added.
The proposal has been met with criticism from those who view it as a waste of public funds.
“It’s already annoying enough to feed criminals with taxes, but do we now have to install air conditioners with taxes too?” one commenter said, according to The Korea Times.
Another online comment read: “Is it only criminals’ human rights that matter? They don’t pay a single won in taxes, and now they get air conditioning paid for by mine.”
Despite rising temperatures each year, South Korean prisons currently only have electric fans, which are switched off for 10 minutes after being run for 50 minutes to avoid overheating, according to The Asia Business Daily.
At least seven cases of heat-related illness were recorded at five prison facilities last July, during a period when daily maximum temperatures reached 33C.
