South Korea to install prison air conditioning for first time in 7 years

The Ministry of Justice plans to spend 1.2 billion won (about $794,000) this year to install cooling systems in prisons, focusing on corridor areas in housing units that hold inmates most vulnerable to heat-related illness — including the elderly, people with disabilities and the sick.

According to a ministry press release issued Monday, the air conditioning units will be installed in housing unit corridors rather than inside individual cells, providing indirect cooling. Some women's housing units will also be included, taking into account overcrowding conditions and the physical characteristics of female inmates.

Currently, no cooling systems exist in inmate living areas at correctional facilities nationwide. Air conditioning operates only in correctional officers' offices and medical wards, while cells are equipped with electric fans alone. The national prison occupancy rate has reached 127%, packing far more inmates into tight spaces than facilities were designed to hold. That drives up indoor temperatures and raises the risk of heat stroke during heat waves.

The National Assembly Research Service warned in Issue Brief No. 2400, published Aug. 20 last year and titled "Can a Hot Summer Become Punishment? — The Need for Indoor Temperature Standards in Correctional Facilities," that without temperature management standards, the government faces an ongoing risk of large-scale state compensation lawsuits.

In 2016, two inmates died one day apart inside an investigation cell at Busan Prison, in an environment without even a fan. The daytime high at the time was 32.7 degrees Celsius, and autopsies by the National Forensic Service identified heatstroke as the primary cause of death. The two men were 37 and 39 years old.

The proportion of elderly inmates is also rising rapidly. According to the Ministry of Justice's 2025 Corrections Statistics Yearbook, the share of inmates aged 60 or older at correctional facilities increased from 9.5 percent to 17.5 percent over the past decade.

According to the international journal Lancet Planetary Health, electric fans cannot meaningfully lower core body temperature when outdoor temperatures exceed 35 degrees Celsius.

Legislative researcher Kim Hye-mi said in the report that even though inmates had forfeited their freedom by breaking the law, "it cannot be tolerated to impose additional inhumane suffering upon them," adding that "a truly democratic society must also embrace the suffering of those who are confined."

She said that establishing appropriate temperature standards for detention facilities "is not a privilege for inmates but a state obligation to guarantee the minimum level of individual life and health."

Installing air conditioning in prisons has long faced public resistance. Sentiment has run strongly against providing cooling for convicted criminals at a time when low-income residents in cramped urban housing — such as those in single-room tenement districts — still lack adequate cooling. Even so, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea recommended in 2019 that the Ministry of Justice establish indoor temperature standards for correctional facilities.

The ministry balked in July 2020, saying that pursuing legislation "could invite various lawsuits," but it appears to have reversed course as the risk of state compensation claims has grown.

The ministry said the cooling upgrades represent "the minimum necessary measures to protect the lives and physical safety of inmates vulnerable to extreme heat."

‘동방신기’ 박유천 맞아?…휑한 머리숱·주름진 얼굴 ‘충격’ 근황

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