Police officers guard the main gate of the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday. (Yonhap)
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s prison life in the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, has gained public attention, after the Seoul Western District Court issued a warrant to arrest him on Sunday, making him the first sitting president to be officially arrested.
According to the justice ministry, Yoon has to wear a green uniform with his inmate number on his chest, instead of the suit that he had worn since Wednesday, when the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) apprehended him at the presidential residence in central Seoul.
Just as other inmates, he will likely undergo a thorough physical examination and have mugshots taken.
However, it remains to be seen whether the imprisoned president will be wearing the uniform and handcuffed on his way to the CIO for questioning, or to courts for treason and impeachment trials. Former Presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak were allowed not to wear prison uniforms when they were taken from prisons to courts.
Considering security issues amid his status as a sitting president, he may be allowed to take another route to avoid media coverage.
The detention center said Yoon will be placed in solitary confinement in a 10-square-meter cell. Before the court's issuance of the arrest warrant, he had stayed in a waiting room for detained suspects there.
When Park was sent to the same detention center in 2017 after impeachment, she was allowed to live alone in a 10-square-meter room, which was originally designed to accommodate at least six inmates.
Lee was also allowed to stay by himself in a 13-square-meter cell when he was put behind bars in the Seoul Eastern Detention Center in 2018.
Yoon’s room is reportedly equipped with a cabinet, sink, television, desk and toilet.
However, the president will likely lay blankets on the heated floor to sleep, as the detention center’s cells lack a bed. He will also have meals served at the detention center, just like other inmates.
Although Yoon will have no choice but to take showers at a shared shower booth, the justice ministry reportedly allowed him to take showers alone, when other inmates are not using the facility.
Yoon is also entitled to an hour of private yard time each day, when the center’s yard is empty.
Given that he will likely be allowed to meet visitors at a space separated from other inmates, speculation is growing over a possibly visit by first lady Kim Keon Hee’s to the detention center.
However, the justice ministry prohibited the Presidential Security Service (PSS) from guarding Yoon inside the detention center. His bodyguards are also barred from giving him a ride when he travels for questioning. Yoon will likely take the ministry's vehicle, which usually carries prisoners. PSS staffers are expected to guard the vehicle by surrounding it with their vehicles.
The PSS will continue to guard the presidential residence in Seoul and the first lady.