The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    South Korea speeds up full-fledged deployment of US anti-missile battery

  • 3

    Kakao seeks to bolster SM's global presence as new owner

  • 5

    INTERVIEWHow ATEEZ achieved worldwide success

  • 7

    4 young Nigerian siblings killed in house fire in Ansan

  • 9

    Firstborns account for record-high 63% of newborns

  • 11

    Foreign minister hosts Iftar dinner for Muslims in Korea

  • 13

    Busan aims to win hearts of developing nations in Expo 2030 bid

  • 15

    Bank failures and rescue test Yellen's decades of experience

  • 17

    Samsung chief inspects production plants in China for first time in 3 years

  • 19

    Unrest on the Island of World Peace in 1903

  • 2

    Lee Sun-kyun, Lee Ha-nee reunite in new rom-com 'Killing Romance'

  • 4

    Actor Yoo Ah-in appears for questioning over alleged drug use

  • 6

    ANALYSISTesla, BYD's price cuts unnerve LGES, Samsung, SK

  • 8

    SK chief's estranged wife sues his new partner for compensation

  • 10

    Apple Pay service limited by lack of NFC terminals

  • 12

    Chun Doo-hwan's grandson to apologize to victims of Gwangju massacre

  • 14

    Korean police search for 2 Kazakhstanis who fled airport

  • 16

    Yoo Ah-in appears before police over alleged use of illegal drugs

  • 18

    From mines to mobility: 140-year-old partnership between Germany and Korea

  • 20

    Cook praises China's innovation, long history of cooperation on China visit

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
Tue, March 28, 2023 | 13:47
Did you know that ...
Frightening prisons of the Joseon era
Posted : 2013-11-01 18:43
Updated : 2013-11-01 18:43
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
By Robert Neff

Prisons, both past and present, are far from comfortable or safe, but at the end of the 19th century, prisons in Seoul were extremely appalling.

These facilities were mainly made out of logs and planks with large gaps between them that served their purpose in preventing the inhabitants from escaping but did little to protect the prisoners from the elements.

There were ― according to contemporary accounts in the English newspaper, "The Independent'' ― at any one time, a couple of hundred prisoners ranging from early teens to elderly men in their 70s.

Those awaiting trial were generally held in a large holding cell with upwards of 50 prisoners while those convicted and serving their sentences were generally held in smaller cells with around 12 to 18 men.

Prisoners were often tortured during interrogation ― the severity depended on the crimes they were alleged to have committed and who their accusers were.

Unmarried men were often treated in a more lenient manner while those who had offended or impeded the plans of powerful men suffered interrogations that left them permanently maimed.

When Philip Jaisohn, the editor for The Independent, visited the prison outside the Small West Gate, he found "a number of criminals who had been caught in the country and before being sent up here to Seoul had been beaten across the legs below the knee until the bones were all fractured and the flesh had been terribly torn. The lack of surgical aid together with the heat had caused the wounds to putrefy and the whole prison was filled with an almost unbearable stench.''

Some of the accused died before they ever made it to trial. Others, however, were sent to the foreign hospitals to be treated. According to The Independent:

"Occasionally one sees a man with body bloated as with dropsy and rotting as with gangrene, carried though the streets of Seoul on a jiki. He is being carried from one of the city or national jails to be thrown, perhaps, at the gate of a foreign hospital to be fed and treated by a foreigner at foreign expense, till he recovers [or] till king death releases him from pain.''

Often prisoners were responsible for supplying their own food and clothing. When 23-year-old Prince Yi Chun-yong (the nephew of King Gojong) was sent to prison in 1894 for conspiracy against the king, Yi's grandfather (Gojong's father ― Daewongun) ordered that part of his own meal be sent to his grandson so that he would have enough to eat. But not every prisoner was fortunate to have family able to send food.

Sometimes, starvation was used as an implement of torture or execution. One official was declared knowing "no more of humanitarianism than to kill thieves by slow starvation."

So severe were his tactics that some of the inmates gnawed on anything they could ― "the straw on the floor, their clothes, and even the skin and bones of their own arms ― to satisfy their awful hunger." Their hardened jailors, "touched with pity," used their own money to buy refuse from taverns to secretly feed their wards.

An editorial in The Independent declared that it was a "mark of civilization that a Government should show no small personal resentment against a criminal. He should be punished according to the enormity of his offense, even to death if need be, but the penalty to be bestowed should not be accompanied by additional penalties of a lesser nature like beating, starving or freezing….To allow prisoners to lie with fractured limbs until they putrefy can be denominated as nothing less than barbarous. Disease is not among the list of punishment in any civilized country nor should it be here."

With the assistance of Alfred B. Stripling, an Englishman, and Clarence C. Greathouse, an American, many reforms were made in regards to the treatment of those accused and convicted of crimes.

Many prisoners who might have died had not the reforms been made went on to play important roles in Korean history.

One such man was Syngman Rhee who was released from prison in August 1904 after serving more than five years for his efforts to modernize the country ― acts that were deemed seditious by the monarchy.

Robert Neff is a historian and a columnist of The Korea Times. ― ED.

 
Top 10 Stories
1[ANALYSIS] Tesla, BYD's price cuts unnerve LGES, Samsung, SK ANALYSISTesla, BYD's price cuts unnerve LGES, Samsung, SK
2Yoo Ah-in appears before police over alleged use of illegal drugs Yoo Ah-in appears before police over alleged use of illegal drugs
3US aircraft carrier to visit Busan amid NK provocationsUS aircraft carrier to visit Busan amid NK provocations
4Korean crypto investors want Do Kwon punished in US Korean crypto investors want Do Kwon punished in US
5Families of foreign construction workers can receive retirement pay: court Families of foreign construction workers can receive retirement pay: court
6Gimpo-China flights recover to pre-pandemic levels Gimpo-China flights recover to pre-pandemic levels
7Indonesian investment minister promotes EV cooperation with Korea Indonesian investment minister promotes EV cooperation with Korea
8Nongshim plans to build plant in eastern US region Nongshim plans to build plant in eastern US region
9Right-wing Japanese support Seoul-Tokyo ties: Korean envoy to Japan Right-wing Japanese support Seoul-Tokyo ties: Korean envoy to Japan
10Local bank stocks hit by shockwaves from SVB, CS collapses Local bank stocks hit by shockwaves from SVB, CS collapses
Top 5 Entertainment News
1Lee Sun-kyun, Lee Ha-nee reunite in new rom-com 'Killing Romance' Lee Sun-kyun, Lee Ha-nee reunite in new rom-com 'Killing Romance'
2[INTERVIEW] How ATEEZ achieved worldwide success INTERVIEWHow ATEEZ achieved worldwide success
3Will April releases revive Korean cinema? Films to look out for in April Will April releases revive Korean cinema? Films to look out for in April
4Dreams come true: TXT mesmerizes 21,000 fans at KSPO Dome Dreams come true: TXT mesmerizes 21,000 fans at KSPO Dome
5'My ID is Gangnam Beauty' to be adapted into live action series in Thailand 'My ID is Gangnam Beauty' to be adapted into live action series in Thailand
DARKROOM
  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group