The Korea Correctional Service (Korean: 교정본부; 矯正本部) is the corrections agency/prison service of South Korea. An agency of the Ministry of Justice, it is headquartered in Building #1 of the Government Complex-Gwacheon in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi-do in the Seoul metropolitan area.
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The agency uses an anthropomorphic bear, "Borami," as its mascot. Borami, based on Korean foundational myth, was introduced in 2002.
Demographics
As of 2007, there were 2,431 women incarcerated in the South Korean prison system, making up 5.3% of all of the prison inmates; Bitna Kim, Jurg Gerber, and Yeonghee Kim of Sam Houston State University wrote that therefore "these incarcerated women have not been a matter of much popular or scholarly concern and interest in South Korea."
The females are held in 10 detention centers, one long-term prison for women, one juvenile correctional center, for correctional center branches, and a vocational training correctional center as of 2007.
As of 2005 prisoners who are members of the U.S. military (U.S. military members convicted of serious crimes by local South Korean courts) are generally held at Cheonan Juvenile Correctional Institution. As per an agreement between the U.S. and South Korea they are held one to a cell, separated from South Korean prisoners, given Western cuisine supplied by U.S. Forces Korea, and are not required to perform hard labor that is mandatory for South Korean prisoners.
Centers
There are 11 pre-trial detention centers and 37 correctional centers; the latter includes one women's prison, one juvenile institution, one private prison, two centers for vocational training, and one open prison.
Pre-trial detention centers:
Correctional centers: