Prisons as pollution-free industry

It seems that Chun Doo-hwan, an army general-turned former president, and his military cronies watched too many macho-style gang movies. They conceived a plan to set up a prison like Devil`s Island where Papillon was locked up or Alcatraz where Al Capone was imprisoned. The military looked for an island where felons would be isolated from society and never escape, to no avail. Why guards, let alone prisoners, would want to bring their families to isolated life on a remote island? Finally, a remote inland area was selected – a secluded mountain village in Cheongsong, North Gyeongsang Province.

In Dante`s Divine Comedy, the gate of hell bore an inscription that read, "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." Inmates at the Cheongsong Prison had to give up their dream of escaping from the prison. It is perched on top of a steep cliff, and the only access road is heavily guarded. Even the most notorious gangsters were better off staying in the prison. Since its opening in 1980, no inmate has successfully escaped the prison. For the inmates, the facility was equivalent to Papillon`s prison.

In Cheongsong County, there are four correctional facilities. One of them is a maximum security prison, while the others are for general convicts. Although Cheongsong is known as a "correctional town," local residents have rolled up their sleeves to attract additional prisons. Kim Jae-won, senior lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri Party who was elected in Cheongsong, said that in many advanced countries, correctional facilities are welcomed as a pollution-free industry that increases local residents` incomes without doing any harm to their towns.

The Cheongsong prisons have successfully assimilated to the local community. Many prison staff workers and their families live in Cheongsong, promoting local property markets, schools and financial institutions. Money spent by visiting families of inmates also helped the local economy. As Cheongsong is located in an area where the Nakdong River originates, development is restricted, making it hard to attract industrial facilities. At a time when many other areas have the "not in my backyard" mentality toward needed services, it is refreshing to see the way the Cheongsong residents had a switch of ideas.