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Recommended Guarantee of the Right to Sleep of Inmates [2004] KRNHRC 24 (1 January 2004)

The complainant filed a case with the Commission, stating that OO Prison was keeping
lights on in living rooms during bedtime and that such act was in violation of the right to
sleep.

The Commission investigated the case and found that some prisons used only night lights
or turned off some lights, but 28 prisons including the prison concerned did not turn off
any lights during bedtime.

The Commission concluded that maintaining the same intensity of illumination at
bedtime as during daytime not only violated the Judicial Facilities Standards but also the
right to pursue happiness (right to sleep) of the inmates as stipulated in Article 10 of
Constitution because it violated the principle of proportionality under the Constitution. It
recommended that the intensity of illumination be lowered during bedtime of inmates
except for cases where the occurrence of incidents at detention facilities is very high and
that facilities be improved and correctional institutions be controlled and supervised so that
the right to sleep of the inmates is not violated.
The Ministry of Justice decided to have night lights installed at 39 institutions where no
such lights were in use by 2006.