Over the past two years, livelihood recovery consumption coupons and high-oil-price relief subsidies paid to inmates in prisons and detention centers have reached approximately 73,600 recipients, data showed.
According to data submitted by the Ministry of Justice to People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun, inmates who received the livelihood recovery consumption coupons last year numbered 34,201 in the first round and 20,282 in the second, while 19,082 inmates received high-oil-price relief subsidies this year.
Assuming they received at least 100,000 won per person, more than 7.3 billion won was injected.
This figure only counts cases where the head of the correctional institution applied on behalf of the inmates; if cases where family members applied on their behalf are included, the actual number of inmates who received the subsidies could be even higher.
This is because while family members are principally supposed to apply for the subsidies on behalf of inmates, these statistics only capture cases where the head of the correctional institution applied by proxy because the inmates could not contact their families or had no one to apply for them.
The relief subsidies are structured such that correctional institution staff apply on behalf of inmates if they submit an application form and a power of attorney. An official at one correctional facility vented, "Staff members end up being mobilized for extra work for two to three months, causing many difficulties."
The distributed gift certificates are managed separately as "special deposited items" rather than inmate deposit money that can be used to buy snacks and other items inside the correctional facility.
Because both subsidies only have income criteria and lack regulations excluding inmates from the eligible recipients, criticism has arisen over whether it is appropriate to give subsidies even to inmates who are already provided with room and board.
(Reported by Jung Da-eun | Video by Ahn Jun-hyeok | Design by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News)
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