CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Far East District (FED) along with United States Army Regional Correctional Facility-Korea (USARCF-K) and the Ministry of National Defense-Defense Installation Agency have partnered together on the latest construction on Camp Humphreys, South Korea.
Brig. Gen. Duane Miller, U.S. Army Corrections Command (ACC) commanding general and U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (USACIDC) deputy commanding general, along with other distinguished guests, hosted a groundbreaking ceremony April 30 to begin the development of a new primary correctional facility.
The Eighth Army Confinement Facility is the name of the current facility and was built in 1973. The new USARCF-K will meet all standard for accreditation and house more prisoners than the current facility. The new facility will include two distinct areas with special construction requirements for each.
The relationship between FED and the hired contractor are key to ensuring that this facility hits every target and continued communication between the two is paramount.
“We have to keep reminding ourselves of what we’re doing and what’s our desired end state,” said Col. Garrett Cottrell, USACE FED deputy commanding officer- Transformation/USDCA. “That helps guide us through the decision making process to help get us to where we need to be.”
Yoo, Eun Baek, Wooseok Construction Co., Ltd., managing director, took part in the ceremony and will help manage the construction on this project. Yoo has worked as a contractor on projects for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Far East District (FED) for the past 37 years.
“We are doing a lot of projects from USFK and FED,” said Yoo. “We are especially glad to have an opportunity to build this special facility. We would like to do our best and complete it as an outstanding project for our part.”
The USARCF-K provides theater-level pretrial and short-term post-trial confinement services. It also provides liaison services to Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) prisoners, and maintains standards established by the Department of Defense, the Army, and the American Correctional Association (ACA). The mission also expands confinement operations to accommodate additional prisoners during transition to hostilities and provides quality rehabilitation programs and services, along with transferring prisoners to CONUS facilities.
With a mission as diverse and complex as the one operated by USARCF-K, ensuring that all the building specifications are followed is critical to the overall success of the facility. Yoo expressed his understanding of ensuring this facility is built to last.
“When we think of construction the first thing that comes into mind are the apartments or office buildings. But military installations are special in different ways,” said Yoo. “Uses of the buildings are different, we try hard to meet the needs. It's an exciting experience for us.”
The construction project includes approximately 18 months of soil fill and earthwork prior to commencing the correctional facility building. Construction completion date is scheduled for Dec. 17 2021.