Fines as sentences may be justified legal measures, but for those who are too impoverished to pay them, they can be unjust. Gettyimagesbank

Top prosecutors' office admits to inhumanity of sending destitute defendants with unpaid fines to prison

By Ko Dong-hwan

From time to time, there are hospital patients who get charged with theft of services for attempting to flee without paying for their treatment. In many cases, they evaded payment because they simply didn't have the money to cover the medical fees. When cases like these go to court, those still unable to pay compensation and fines are commonly sentenced to prison terms instead.

There are also those who offered to be a guarantor for someone for personal reasons. But after the latter party violates the contract and disappears, the guarantor becomes responsible for the violator's penalty instead. Among those who don't have the means to pay such penalties, some face no other choice but serving prison time.

These unlucky prisoners, if they had just a couple of million won in hand, could have avoided being put behind bars. Because Korea's judicial system spares nothing for cashless petty criminals, there have been consistent objections to it and demands to revise the laws to allow them more legal choices to avoid serving prison time. An irony is that while those who committed a serious crime for the first time often receive a suspended prison terms, those charged only with a fine, which is a lighter form of penalty than going to a jail, must be imprisoned if they cannot pay the fine.

And there have been concerns about the severity of serving a prison term for cash-strapped defendants. Slapping them with jail time deprives them of far more than they deserve, including attachment to their families and the chances of getting employed, according to supporters of revising laws for defendants issued with fines that they can't pay so that they can avoid prison time.

An encouraging decision for destitute defendants and their supporters came on Tuesday from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office (SPO). In a revision to their manual, the country's top prosecutor authority said they will from now on widen the channel for poverty-stricken defendants issued with fines to serve community service hours instead of serving prison term. Those in poverty or in a vulnerable social group who cannot pay a fine, once imprisoned, are isolated from family support and from ways to earn income, as well as suffer from the disadvantages of being recognized as an ex-convict by society, explained the SPO.

"About 93 percent of those currently serving a prison term because they couldn't pay a fine couldn't handle a fine of 5 million won ($3,800) or less," said an official from the SPO. "About 60 percent of them couldn't even pay fines of 1 million won or less."

This correlation between financial hardship and imprisonment has been more evident during the COVID-19 pandemic since 2020. As economic difficulties have pushed more people into hardship, an increasing number of those charged with petty crimes served prison terms instead of paying a fine. The number of cases of unpaid fines worth 5 million won or less were 138,000 in 2019. The figure increased to 142,000 in 2020 and 199,000 in 2021.

A cell inside Seoul Eastern Detention Center in Songpa District. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office has taken a new step based on the growing opinion that inmates serving prison terms due to their inability to pay fines can better make amends through community service. Korea Times file

With this increase also came rising health risks inside correctional facilities. The influx of inmates not only hiked the population density inside cells, but prisons became hotbeds of COVID-19 infection.

The focus of the SPO's latest adjustment to their rule book is transitioning more defendants to doing community service outside of prisons instead. Among those who couldn't pay fines of 5 million won or less, the authority has so far allowed only those who earn less than 50 percent of the country's median income to shift from serving prison terms to community service. The new rule has increased the upper limit to 70 percent of the country's median income. That means the benefit extends to those from a four-member household earning a monthly income of 3.58 million won or less, instead of 2.56 million won.

In addition to monthly income, the authority has decided to look into the individuals' particular financial conditions as another category to allow the alternative of community service. Reduced income due to the pandemic situation could be one acceptable reason, according to the authority. The types of work included in community service have also been broadened, now including work to support farming and fishing communities, one-person senior households, as well as improving the condition of residential areas.

The authority has also decided to look more closely into the financial abilities of defendants issued with fines to see whether they can make payments in installments or with an extension of the due date. The goal is to put as few petty criminals as possible behind bars.

"All judges want to uphold the rule of law in the communities we serve, but too often we can get lost in the day-to-day business of running a court; we ignore the consequences of what we do," Ed Spillane, who served as a presiding judge of the College Station Municipal Court and the president of the Texas Municipal Courts Association, said in his contribution to The Washington Post in 2016. "An arrest can cost a citizen his or her job, dignity and security. Alternative sentencing is a way to achieve what we should all want: an end to criminal behavior."

Jean Valjean Bank

Years before the SPO announced the latest regulatory adjustment, there was a man who already noticed the same problem and took actions to help those in need.

Hong Se-hwa set up the Jean Valjean Bank in Yongsan District, Seoul, in 2015 to lend money to people who cannot afford paying their fines. Loans from this philanthropic establishment are 100 percent from donors. Selected requests for the loans get approval from the bank. Over 1,100 have received loans altogether worth over 1.9 billion won from the bank eponymous of the timeless fictional character from Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" who, with no money and out of hunger, stole a loaf of bread and was imprisoned for 19 years.

Hong Se-hwa established the Jean Valjean Bank to lend money to defendants who were fined by courts but cannot afford to pay the amount owing. Korea Times file

The bank's website shows its mission: "We are a bank without money. Neither do we strive to become one with money, nor do we wish to accrue gains by charging interest. We don't lend money to just anyone either. Only Jean Valjeans can borrow money from us."

As of August 2022, donors to the bank have reached over 12,000 in number. A total of 255 clients have paid back their loans in full and over 670 have partially paid them back.

"In 2009, there were 43,199 prisoners in Korea who were imprisoned because of their inability to pay their fines," Hong told The Korea Times. "I had found it shocking. It eventually led me to founding the bank."

Hong in 2013 began protesting to the National Assembly so that existing laws should be revised for petty criminals lacking the ability to pay their fines to manage the burden on slower timelines and through alternative methods instead of the traditional pay-or-go-to-jail system set with a 30-day deadline. But lawmakers' indifference to his voice led him to find a solution of his own.

The bank accepts loan requests via email only. It typically provides loans to only 15 to 20 percent of requests after evaluation of why they need the money. It lends as much as 3 million won per person. The loan repayment rule is simple: they are payable in 12 months, with a grace period of six months.

"We don't lend to sex offenders or those who commit other heinous crimes," Hong said. "Most of our clients were hit with fines for charges of simple assault or out of desperate attempts to survive."

He argued that fines should be proportional to one's wealth instead of imposing the same fines on everyone. He mentioned that such a system is currently in practice in many European countries.

"A vice chairman at Nokia was fined 150 million won and German soccer player Michael Ballack paid 10,000 euros for speeding," said Hong. "These instances reflect my opinion that wealthy people should bear an equitable amount of responsibility."