Visiting a detained family member and what the family should do

When you hear of the detention, you want to see them first. To avoid a wasted trip, check the following in order before you go.

• Find out where they are now. At the police stage they are usually in a police station cell, and once the case is referred to the Public Prosecution Service (공소청), they are moved to a detention centre (구치소).
• Call the custody department of the police station or the detention centre's public service office to ask about visiting hours and what to bring. Many detention centres require advance booking.
• Bring your ID when you visit.
• Make a list of things they need right away, such as a change of clothes, glasses, medication and prescriptions. What can be brought in differs by facility, so check first.
• Arrange a lawyer's visit separately. Discuss the case during the lawyer's visit.

Detained people can also see visitors from outside. A police station cell is treated as a pre-trial detention room of a correctional facility, and the same law applies (Administration and Treatment of Correctional Institution Inmates Act (형의 집행 및 수용자의 처우에 관한 법률) Articles 41 and 87). For people detained before a final judgment, general visits are once a day, for up to 30 minutes each, during working hours excluding public holidays (Enforcement Decree of the same Act, Articles 58 and 101).

General visits take place across a partition, and if there is a risk of destroying evidence or similar, a correctional officer can listen and take notes, or record audio or video. You are told in advance if it will be recorded (Act Article 41(4) and (5)). So during visits, it is safer not to talk about the victim, accomplices or the case itself.

A lawyer, or someone about to become the lawyer, can visit a detained person and exchange documents with them (Criminal Procedure Act (형사소송법) Article 34). Correctional officers cannot be present at or listen to lawyer visits, there is no limit on time or frequency, and the meeting takes place without a partition (Administration and Treatment of Correctional Institution Inmates Act Articles 41(2) and 84). Lawyer visits also do not count toward the once-a-day limit on family visits.

Money held in custody for a detainee, commonly called yeongchigeum (영치금), is permitted when you apply to the facility to deliver it, unless it would threaten the safety or order of the facility (same Act, Article 27). With this money, the detained person buys food and daily necessities with the warden's permission (Article 24). Facilities also run a system where family members choose food or daily necessities at the detention centre's public service office to be delivered, commonly known as sasik (사식).

Each facility sets which items can be sent in and the limits, so check with the public service office. You can also exchange letters, which in principle are not censored, but do not write requests related to the case or anything about the victim (Article 43).

Apart from visits, there is a lot for the family to handle. Split the tasks among you.

• Hiring a lawyer. A spouse, lineal relatives and siblings can appoint a lawyer independently of the detained person (Criminal Procedure Act Article 30(2)).
• Contact their workplace or school to arrange leave. Making sure it is not treated as unauthorised absence also helps later when seeking release.
• Gather a resident registration abstract, family relationship certificate, certificate of employment and lease agreement. These are used when requesting a review of detention or bail.
• Do not contact the victim directly. Settle only after deciding the timing and method with the lawyer.
• Family members, people living with the detainee and their employer can also request a review of the legality of detention (Article 214-2(1)).

We visit the detained person to hear about the case, and keep the family updated on progress as far as can be shared. We attend questioning that continues during detention and use the documents the family gathered to consider a review of detention or bail. If a visit is urgent, let us know first through the chat on this page. You can message us on weekends too.