section_path: Discovery of human rights abuses/Beatings and torture
section_name: Beatings and torture
paragraph_text: Beatings and torture
  
  Subsequent investigations into the incident revealed that the inmates at Brothers Home were subjected to serious violations of human rights, including arbitrary detention, enforced labor, torture, and sexual violence.
  
  The center was administered with an "army-like chain of command." To reduce administrative costs, one inmate was chosen as the "commander" of the facility, working directly under director Park In-geun. Under the commander, 120 vagrants were grouped into a single residence as one "platoon." Each platoon had a "leader", "general secretary", and "team leaders", all of whom were selected inmates. Inmates were also subjected to collective punishment. In some cases, the entire platoon would be beaten or tortured over the mistake of a single member.
  
  Widespread torture was common. Inmates were often forced to keep painful and exhausting postures for prolonged periods and were beaten when they failed to stay still. In 2020, the Kukmin Ilbo reported accounts from a former inmate who claimed that director Park In-geun physically abused inmates himself and kept handcuffs and oak clubs in the director's office. He further claimed that he had heard rumors that about 40 to 50 inmates in Brothers were killed directly by Park himself.
  
  Children and adolescents of Brothers often became victims of sexual violence by platoon officers. A small number of victims, labeled as 'ttongti' (stemming from "ttong", which translates to excrement) became the primary victims of same-sex sexual violence.
  
  Various testimonies have reported that Brothers Home fed its inmates antipsychotics as a form of "chemical restraint".: 29 Purchase records from the center have revealed that Brothers purchased 250,000 tablets of chlorpromazine —along with a series of other antipsychotics such as haloperidol, flurazepam, and carbamazepine —in 1986 alone.: 29 In 1987, the city of Busan denied the accusations, explaining that the drugs were over-the-counter drugs that were purchased for medical purposes.: 29
  
  The 1987 New Korean Democratic Party investigation reports estimated that, based on records from the center, a total of 513 people died inside Brothers from July 5, 1975 to January 7, 1987.: 45 In 2014, an additional 38 victims were found to have died in the center from 1986 to its decommission in 1988, increasing the number to 551.: 30 In 2016, a DW news article reported that a minimum of 516 people died over the course of 20 years at Brothers Home. The 2022 Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigation reported that, based on a comprehensive analysis, including all newly discovered death records from 1975 to 1988, a total of 657 people had died in the center.: 30 The bodies of dead inmates were buried in secret, cremated and buried in public cemeteries, or sold to nearby hospitals.
  
  Subsequent investigations into the incident revealed that the inmates at Brothers Home were subjected to serious violations of human rights, including arbitrary detention, enforced labor, torture, and sexual violence.
  
  The center was administered with an "army-like chain of command." To reduce administrative costs, one inmate was chosen as the "commander" of the facility, working directly under director Park In-geun. Under the commander, 120 vagrants were grouped into a single residence as one "platoon." Each platoon had a "leader", "general secretary", and "team leaders", all of whom were selected inmates. Inmates were also subjected to collective punishment. In some cases, the entire platoon would be beaten or tortured over the mistake of a single member.
  
  Widespread torture was common. Inmates were often forced to keep painful and exhausting postures for prolonged periods and were beaten when they failed to stay still. In 2020, the Kukmin Ilbo reported accounts from a former inmate who claimed that director Park In-geun physically abused inmates himself and kept handcuffs and oak clubs in the director's office. He further claimed that he had heard rumors that about 40 to 50 inmates in Brothers were killed directly by Park himself.
  
  Children and adolescents of Brothers often became victims of sexual violence by platoon officers. A small number of victims, labeled as 'ttongti' (stemming from "ttong", which translates to excrement) became the primary victims of same-sex sexual violence.
  
  Various testimonies have reported that Brothers Home fed its inmates antipsychotics as a form of "chemical restraint".: 29 Purchase records from the center have revealed that Brothers purchased 250,000 tablets of chlorpromazine —along with a series of other antipsychotics such as haloperidol, flurazepam, and carbamazepine —in 1986 alone.: 29 In 1987, the city of Busan denied the accusations, explaining that the drugs were over-the-counter drugs that were purchased for medical purposes.: 29
  
  The 1987 New Korean Democratic Party investigation reports estimated that, based on records from the center, a total of 513 people died inside Brothers from July 5, 1975 to January 7, 1987.: 45 In 2014, an additional 38 victims were found to have died in the center from 1986 to its decommission in 1988, increasing the number to 551.: 30 In 2016, a DW news article reported that a minimum of 516 people died over the course of 20 years at Brothers Home. The 2022 Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigation reported that, based on a comprehensive analysis, including all newly discovered death records from 1975 to 1988, a total of 657 people had died in the center.: 30 The bodies of dead inmates were buried in secret, cremated and buried in public cemeteries, or sold to nearby hospitals.