Beyond Punishment to Recovery: Inside the Drug Rehabilitation Ward

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To lower the recidivism rate for drug offenses, which exceeds 50 percent, treatment and rehabilitation are just as important as punishment.

Reporter Lee Se-hyeon visited a drug rehabilitation ward designed to help individuals recover from addiction and return to daily life.

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Starting this year, the Cheongju Women's Prison has designated a separate drug rehabilitation ward for 45 inmates who have shown a strong will to rehabilitate.

Most of them are participating in the "Recovery Connection" program, a three-month customized rehabilitation course.

Through group counseling and other activities, they share their experiences with addiction, plan for the future, and prepare to reconnect with society.

A person in their 20s, identified as A, who was addicted to methamphetamine for seven years, repeatedly failed to quit on their own during a period of probation.

[A / Participant in the Recovery Connection program: The end of a drug problem is actually prison, a mental hospital, or death. I decided that I wanted to live.]

Here, by reflecting on the causes of their addiction and sharing past failures, they are experiencing recovery that goes beyond simply quitting drugs for the first time.

[A / Participant in the Recovery Connection program: Through recovery, I think I saw a glimmer of hope that I could live again.]

When the effectiveness of the program was measured among those who completed the Recovery Connection course last year, substance dependency levels dropped by 27 percent, while the determination to stay off drugs increased by 38 percent.

[Jeon Byeong-mi / Correctional Officer, Drug Offender Rehabilitation Division: You cannot simply say, 'I will overcome this addiction,' while doing nothing in prison without any stimulation.]

Participatory education is proving effective in an environment completely cut off from the temptation of drugs.

However, the target number of participants for this year across all prisons nationwide is 230, which is only 8 percent of the total number of drug offenders incarcerated last year.

The Ministry of Justice plans to increase the number of such rehabilitation-focused correctional facilities from the current 6 to 13 by next year, but challenges remain.

[Jeon Byeong-mi / Correctional Officer, Drug Offender Rehabilitation Division: We have never specifically hired addiction experts. We need many more training programs for 'recovery support specialists' who are former addicts themselves.]

Securing space in already overcrowded facilities, hiring professional staff, and obtaining budget remain as tasks to be addressed.

It is time for correctional facilities to change their approach to drug addiction, moving beyond simple isolation and punishment to ensure that lives can be reconnected as ordinary neighbors in our society.

(Video reporting: Choi Dae-woong | Video editing: Yoon Tae-ho | Graphics: Kim Han-gil, Kim Ye-ji)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.