The news of that day has passed, but its meaning remains today. "Today's That Day" reads the present through records of the past.
June 4, 2023. A man in his 30s who bullied fellow inmates while boasting that he was a former mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter was sentenced to prison. Judge Lee Eun-joo of the Incheon District Court's Criminal Division 14 sentenced the defendant, identified only as A, to one year in prison on charges including assault and coercion.
A, who was incarcerated at the Incheon Detention Center in 2021, threatened other inmates sharing his cell by boasting that he had been an MMA fighter before his imprisonment. Two victims, identified as B (then 29) and C (then 25), were forced to follow A's orders to lie face down while holding their ears and shout "cricket," and to extend their hands forward as if stabbing with a weapon while shouting "robber." They were also forced to assume positions on the floor that mimicked sexual acts. The two said they refused, telling A they did not want to do it, but were compelled to repeat the same actions every day for more than two months because A intimidated them with the threat of beatings.
◇ Choking and Forced Massages, Acting Like a King = A's misconduct did not stop there. The victims were forced to punch each other in the abdomen on A's orders and were also compelled to join a club A had created called "KCC" and exercise against their will. When B said he wanted to stop exercising, A pressured him, saying, "Take 10 abdominal punches from the other inmates and then quit."
A also frequently assaulted the two. He would call B and C over, saying, "Hey, come here," and then put them in a so-called "choke" hold, wrapping his legs around their necks while saying, "I'll knock you out nicely." The two refused, telling A, "It feels like blood isn't reaching the brain," but to no avail, and they had to endure 10 rounds of choke holds.
During his two months at the detention center, B also served as A's personal masseur. Whenever A ordered, "Hey, come here and give me a massage," B had to rub every part of A's body for 20 minutes. A also threatened B, who normally went to the bathroom every morning, saying, "From now on, if you go to the bathroom, I'll kill you. If it's urgent, do it in your pants."
Prosecutors eventually indicted A on charges including assault and coercion. Taking the witness stand, B testified, "I had no choice but to keep doing the humiliating acts because I was afraid of A," adding, "I didn't want to give the massages either, but I did as he demanded out of fear of being beaten." The other victim, C, also stated, "We were isolated at the Incheon Detention Center with no one to protect us," and explained, "A would harass us by having other inmates beat us if we didn't follow his orders."
◇ "It Was a Joke," He Denied = However, A denied the charges, claiming that all of his actions were jokes and that the incidents happened because the victims wanted them to. "The actions I had them do while lying face down were a joke, and I never made them hit each other," he said. "B gave the massages on his own, and although I did knock them out, the victims wanted it."
The court did not accept A's claims. "The victims gave consistent statements about the circumstances at the time A committed the acts," the court said. "Their accounts are so specific that they could not be known without direct experience, and there are no circumstances that would cast doubt on the credibility of their statements."
The court continued, "The defendant should have been reflecting on his actions while detained, but instead committed crimes against fellow inmates," explaining the sentence by adding, "We took into account the suffering inflicted on the victims and the fact that the defendant offered unconvincing excuses without showing remorse."
Assault cases inside correctional facilities have been on the rise each year. According to the Ministry of Justice Correctional Service's status report on disciplinary grounds, the number of cases at correctional facilities nationwide where inmates were disciplined for assaulting other inmates was 4,762 in 2021, 5,130 in 2022, 6,166 in 2023, and 6,320 in 2024.
