14 DAY TRIAL // People in South Korea who feel they can no longer bear the stress of everyday life now have the option to isolate themselves in a prison to relax and meditate.
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 penal theme. People come here to isolate themselves from the outside world and pay to be confined to 60-square-foot (5.6-square-meter) cells.
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 “therapeutic reasons,” but his request was denied.
“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/€13.8 million).
The facility includes 28 solitary confinement cells, furnished with only a toilet, a sink and a small table, where guests can spend time alone, reflecting on life and enjoying private meditation sessions. Moreover, clients can also join group sessions in the auditorium, 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 reflect on their lives and regain control of it. A two-night stay at “Prison Inside Me” costs 150,000 won ($146/€106).
Mr. Kwon and his wife explained that they initially had a different plan for the “relaxation center,” and envisioned 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 client at “Prinson Inside Me,” said the experience helped him a lot.
“This is my third time in prison,” he confessed. “Being confined to a prison can be suffocating, but it also offers time to focus solely 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.