Jecheon moves ahead with prison bid after 61.7% of residents back hosting facility

Jecheon residents have backed the city’s bid to host a prison, with 61.7% supporting the proposal and 38.3% opposing it, according to a survey released by the city on the seventh.

Jecheon commissioned Korea Research to conduct face-to-face interviews with 1,506 residents, including 762 men and 744 women, from the 27th of last month through the fifth. Support led in 15 of the city’s 17 towns and neighborhoods. Gyodong and Cheongpung-myeon recorded the highest support, at 71.4%, while Namhyeon-dong was the only area where opposition was stronger, with support at 42.6%.

Mayor Lee Sang-cheon said the 23.4 percentage-point gap between support and opposition exceeded the survey’s margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. He said many residents had united behind what he called a broad-minded choice for future generations and a response to the risk of regional decline, and announced that the city would proceed with the hosting process.

Jecheon will accept applications for preferred host villages across its 17 towns and neighborhoods from the eighth through the 17th. It plans to select a final candidate site and apply to the Justice Ministry by the 12th of next month.

The ministry proposed building a correctional facility in Jecheon on May 8, and the city held a public hearing last month. Under the ministry’s site-selection notice issued on the 28th of last month, four facilities will be built on sites of at least 192,000 square meters. Each will accommodate 1,000 inmates and employ 250 staff. Applications and proposals will be accepted in October and November, sites will be selected in December after reviews of land conditions, resident acceptance and implementation prospects, and completion is scheduled for December 2034.

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The 23.4 percentage-point gap between support and opposition exceeded the margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, and many residents united behind a broad-minded choice for future generations and overcoming the risk of regional decline. We will proceed with the hosting process.