Human rights groups demand action as prison air conditioning plan halted, inmates swelter

Human rights groups urged correctional authorities Tuesday to adopt urgent measures protecting inmates from extreme heat in facilities lacking air conditioning and other cooling equipment.

Organizations including the Prisoners' Human Rights Promotion Group held a joint press conference Tuesday morning in front of Cheong Wa Dae's Sarangchae annex, demanding that authorities "immediately implement measures against the deadly heat conditions in detention."

The groups said temperatures inside correctional facilities were approaching 37 degrees Celsius, yet the absence of cooling systems left inmates with no choice but to rely on electric fans and ice water.

Kim Dong-hyun, a lawyer with the public interest human rights law group Huimang-eul Mandeuneun Beop, said the government had failed to act despite a National Human Rights Commission of Korea recommendation to establish temperature standards after finding that extreme heat in detention could constitute a human rights violation.

In their press conference statement, the groups said people held in correctional facilities and immigration detention centers "are having their lives and health threatened in a situation where they cannot escape the heat on their own or move to a cooled space."

They also said civil servants working inside detention facilities were equally exposed to the risk of heat-related illness.

After the press conference, the groups submitted a written statement to Cheong Wa Dae calling for legislation establishing minimum temperature standards and tiered heat-protection measures for detention facilities, reinforcement of cooling systems in correctional facilities, guaranteed access for detainees to temperature and humidity information, and public disclosure of the results of heat-response plan implementation.