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As the recidivism rate for drug offenses exceeds 50 percent, there is a growing consensus that while punishment is important, the focus must shift toward treatment and rehabilitation. Our reporting team visited a correctional facility housing drug offenders. While the treatment, rehabilitation, and recovery processes were proving effective, some practical limitations were also evident.

Reporter Lee Se-hyeon has the story.

[Reporter]

Starting this year, the Cheongju Women's Correctional Institution has been housing 45 drug offenders with a strong will to rehabilitate in a dedicated "Addiction Rehabilitation Unit."

Most of these individuals are participating in "Recovery Connection," a three-month customized rehabilitation program.

Through group counseling and other activities, they share their experiences with addiction, plan for their futures, and prepare to reintegrate into society.

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

[A/Participant in the Recovery Connection program: The truth is, the end of a drug problem is either prison, a psychiatric 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" beyond just quitting drugs for the first time.

[A/Participant in the Recovery Connection program: Because of this 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 it last year, their level of substance dependency decreased by 27 percent, and their determination to stay off drugs increased by 38 percent.

[Jeon Byeong-mi/Correctional Officer, Drug Offender Rehabilitation Division: You cannot just sit in prison without doing anything and find the stimulation to say, 'I will break free from this addiction.']

The participatory education is proving effective in an environment completely cut off from the temptations of drugs.

However, the target number of participants to complete the program in prisons nationwide this year is 230, which is only 8 percent of the drug offenders incarcerated last year.

The Ministry of Justice plans to increase the number of such specialized rehabilitation 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 facilities that are already overcrowded, as well as professional staff and budget, remains a task to be addressed.

Beyond simple isolation from society and punishment, it is time for correctional facilities to change their approach to drug addiction so that lives can be reconnected as ordinary neighbors in our community.

Reported by Choi Dae-woong | Video by Yoon Tae-ho | Graphics by Kim Han-gil and Kim Ye-ji