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Recommended Prohibition of Opening Letters of Inmates [2004] KRNHRC 27 (1 January 2004)

The complainant, who was an inmate of OO Prison, filed a case stating that the right to
privacy was violated because a prison officer who was not in charge of mail read a letter
of the complainant.

The result of the investigation on the case revealed that although only officers in charge
of education were authorized to read inmates' letters, officers responsible for detention
wards were routinely reading the letters of inmates.
The Commission concluded that reading letters of inmates by prison officers in charge of
wards violated the rights of inmates to privacy. It recommended that the Minister of Justice
prohibit prison officers in charge of wards from opening and reading letters of inmates at
their discretion.

As for the complaint filed from OO Prison claiming that the freedom of correspondence
was infringed because letters forwarded to a lawyer and others became missing, the
Commission found that five registered letters sent by the complainant went missing during
the course of transfer to the prison officer in charge of letters at the Administrative Affairs
Division of the prison. The Commission recommended preparation of measures to prevent
recurrence, including preparation of instructions on transfer of letters.