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People in South Korea who feel they can
no longer bear the stress of everyday life now can choose to stay in a prison
to relax and think deeply.
In a society where pressure to do well in
school and find highly-paid jobs is intense, a former lawyer came up with an
extreme relaxation idea. Kwon Yong-seok created the "Prison Inside Me"
—a stress-reduction center with a punishment theme. People come here to cut
themselves off from the outside world and pay to be kept in 60-square-foot
(5.6-square-meter) cells (囚室).
Located on the outskirts of Hongcheon,
about 58 miles (93 km) northeast of Seoul," Prison Inside Me" came to
life after Mr. Kwon voluntarily asked to spend time behind bars for" healing
reasons," but his request was turned down." I didn't know how to stop
working back then," he said." I felt like I was being swept away
against my will, and it seemed I couldn't control my own life." So, Kwon
and his wife Roh Ji-hyang decided to take matters into their own hands, and
designed and built a prison-like spiritual center. The construction was
completed in June last year and cost about 2 billion won ($19 million).
The facility includes 28 cells, furnished
with only a toilet, a sink and a small table, where guests can spend time
alone, thinking about life and enjoying private thinking periods. Moreover,
guests can also join group thinking periods in the hall, where they are given
instructions on how to free themselves from what Mr. Kwon calls the "inner
prison" to find inner peace.
According to the Wall Street Journal,
hundreds of stressed South Koreans are checking in at the stress-reduction
facility to think about their lives and regain control of it. A two-night stay
at" Prison Inside Me" costs 150,000 won ($146).
Mr. Kwon and his wife explained that at the
beginning they had a different plan for the" relaxation center," and
imagined a longer stay for their guests, but, given that people weren't able to
take more time off, they had to reduce the length of stays to just two days.
Park Woo-sub, a guest at" Prison
Inside Me," said the experience helped him a lot." This is my third
time in prison. Being kept in a prison makes me hard to breathe, but it also
offers time to focus only on me and spend some quiet time with myself."
Others said the experience would have been
more helpful if the conditions had been poorer, like in a real prison.