Cheongju Women's Correctional Institution holds about 800 inmates despite capacity of 619

Cheongju Women's Correctional Institution houses about 800 inmates despite a capacity of 619, with eight women sharing some rooms intended for five. An episode of EBS1’s Extreme Jobs will follow the correctional officers responsible for maintaining order inside the crowded facility, airing at 9:05 p.m. on Saturday, October 17, 2026.

During a 15-hour overnight shift, a single officer must oversee 100 to 150 inmates. Officers also frequently suffer injuries while restraining inmates who become violent. The episode offers a rarely seen view behind bars, showing staff responding to sudden disturbances and facing about 800 inmates each day in an environment that demands constant vigilance.

The country’s largest correctional facility for women, Cheongju Women's Correctional Institution is a national security facility that does not appear on maps. It holds many women convicted of violent crimes, including notorious offenders whose crimes caused a public uproar, as well as prisoners serving life sentences and long-term inmates confined for at least 20 years.

Even the officers who work there must undergo strict security screening every day when they arrive. Mobile phones, other electronic devices and weapons are prohibited from being brought through the entrance. After passing through several steel doors, officers find written slips known as “report notes,” listing a wide range of inmate requests and complaints.

As officers deal with conflicts that arose among inmates overnight, intercoms connected to their living quarters ring continuously. Requests range down to small errands, such as retrieving a hair tie left in the bathhouse. On busy days, officers receive nearly 100 requests.

Another busy part of the institution is the social reintegration department, which helps inmates prepare to return to society. One of its main duties is screening inmate correspondence. About 80% of the letters are pen-pal correspondence from other prisons for men.

Officers open and inspect some 2,000 letters individually, searching for prohibited items that do not support inmates’ correction and rehabilitation. Some contents are particularly difficult to handle: letters occasionally contain body hair or bodily fluids.

Inspections of inmates’ living quarters bring another source of tension. CRPT, the team responsible for safety and order inside the prison, conducts unannounced special inspections when information is received.

Officers search thoroughly for prohibited items, from makeshift cosmetics fashioned from lip balm to medication stockpiled in instant noodle cups and objects that could be used as weapons. They confiscate these items to protect inmates from harm.

Overcrowding remains the larger problem. Through the officers’ daily routines, Extreme Jobs will show the pressures of managing a population well above the institution’s capacity while handling complaints, preventing violence and maintaining security behind its high walls.

Read the original (Korean)