A Weekend in a Prison Cell to Escape Modern Life

Alan Taylor
November 26, 2018
16 Photos
In Focus

For the past five years, a mock prison facility in Hongcheon, South Korea, has been locking up paying “inmates” for brief stays in simple cells where mobile devices are prohibited, talking with other participants is not allowed, and no clocks can be found. Kim Hong-Ji, a photographer with Reuters, visited “Prison Inside Me” recently, reporting that it has hosted more than 2,000 inmates since 2013, “many of them stressed office workers and students seeking relief from South Korea’s demanding work and academic culture.” Noh Ji-Hyang, a co-founder, was inspired by a comment from her husband, a prosecutor, who said that he’d rather spend time in solitary confinement than go back to a 100-hour workweek: “After a stay in the prison, people say, ‘This is not a prison, the real prison is where we return to.’”

Hints: View this page full screen. Skip to the next and previous photo by typing j/k or ←/→.

Park Hye-ri, 28, a start-up business program manager, places her mobile phone outside a cell of Prison Inside Me, a mock prison facility in Hongcheon, South Korea, on November 10, 2018. "This prison gives me a sense of freedom," Park said. "I shouldn't be here right now, given the work I need to do. But I decided to pause and look back at myself for a better life." #

Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters

Read more
Prison Inside Me stands shrouded in fog at dawn in Hongcheon, South Korea, on November 11, 2018. #

Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters

Read more
Park Hye-ri (left) takes a walk before being locked up at Prison Inside Me on November 10, 2018. #

Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters

Read more
Park Hye-ri and her friends prepare to be locked up on November 10, 2018. #

Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters

Read more
Prison Inside Me "inmates" bow before being locked up on November 10, 2018. #

Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters

Read more
A participant meditates before being locked up in a cell on November 10, 2018. #

Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters

Read more
Park Hye-ri walks to a cell on November 10, 2018. #

Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters

Read more
An "inmate" looks through the window of a cell inside Prison Inside Me on November 11, 2018. #

Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters

Read more
Mobile phones of participants are seen at Prison Inside Me on November 10, 2018. Mobile phones and clocks are forbidden inside the cells. #

Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters

Read more
A windowsill inside a cell, photographed on November 11, 2018. #

Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters

Read more
An administrator serves meals at Prison Inside Me on November 11, 2018. #

Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters

Read more
An administrator distributes a meal to a participant on November 10, 2018. #

Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters

Read more
An "inmate" eats a meal inside a cell on November 11, 2018. #

Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters

Read more
Participants are seen in the cells of the mock prison facility on November 10, 2018. #

Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters

Read more
Park Hye-ri stretches while being locked inside a cell on November 11, 2018. #

Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters

Read more
Park Hye-ri and other participants receive a certificate of parole after spending time at Prison Inside Me in Hongcheon, South Korea, on November 11, 2018. #

Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters

Read more