More than 600 inmates in South Korea have been granted parole this year after serving less than 60% of their sentences, as authorities try to ease severe overcrowding in prisons. The figure is 3.7 times the annual total for last year, and it means inmates convicted of relatively less serious offenses are being released ahead of schedule.
A total of 634 inmates who had completed less than 60% of their terms were granted parole between January and August, according to data the Ministry of Justice submitted to Rep. Joo Jin-woo of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, on the 18th. That compares with 172 for all of last year, an increase of about 3.7 times.
Such cases had stayed below 40 a year for three consecutive years — 38 in 2022, 16 in 2023 and 12 in 2024. They then surged to 172 last year, and this year's eight-month total has already far surpassed that annual figure.
The share of these inmates among all parolees has also climbed quickly. It was just 0.4% in 2022, 0.2% in 2023 and 0.1% in 2024, before rising to 1.4% last year and reaching 6.3% in the January-August period. Compared with 2024, the share has grown 63-fold in two years.
By sentence length, all parolees in the first eight months of this year — not only those released early under the sub-60%-of-term rule — were most heavily concentrated in the one-to-two-year range, at 4,190 people, or 42.0% of the total number of parolees. Next came those serving less than one year at 2,171, or 21.8%, followed by two to three years at 1,842, or 18.5%, and three to four years at 913, or 9.2%. The total also included 61 inmates serving 10-year terms, or 0.6%, and 15 serving life sentences, or 0.2%.
Behind the increase is chronic overcrowding at correctional facilities. The occupancy rate at prisons nationwide stood at 126.2% as of August, according to the ministry. That means a facility designed for 100 inmates was housing an average of about 126. The rate was 122.1% in both 2024 and 2025, showing that the problem has yet to be resolved.
With expansion of prison capacity failing to keep pace with the growth in inmate numbers, the ministry has been widening parole for inmates judged to pose a low risk of reoffending. Sick and elderly inmates are being given priority.
The ministry had earlier drawn up a plan to raise its parole target for this year by about 30% from last year in order to relieve the overcrowding.
But the rapid increase in parole for inmates who have served relatively little of their sentences has raised concerns about measures to prevent reoffending after release and about public safety.
"The government is shifting the risk of reoffending onto the public because of overcrowding at correctional facilities," Joo said. "It should completely halt parole for violent offenders, including those serving life sentences, and put public safety first through steps such as electronic monitoring."