Cullen Thomas, the author of the book ‘Brother One Cell: An American Coming of Age in South Korea's Prisons.’/courtesy of Cullen Thomas

As a 23-year-old callow young man teaching English at a private tutoring institute in Seoul, Cullen was caught in May 1994 smuggling hashish from the Philippines and sentenced to three years and six months in prison. He served them at the Seoul Detention Center, and prisons in Uijeongbu and Daejeon. Now, as the book is published in Korea, Cullen, a freelance writer based in New York, spoke to the Chosun Ilbo through telephone and e-mail.

At first, Cullen says, he was hesitant to publish the story, “but in the end, I felt as though I had an inspirational and positive story to tell. I didn’t want it to be a typical prison account. I hoped that people would see the humanity and worth and interest in the experience."

"If I hadn’t been arrested and gone to prison, I think I might have gotten worse before I got better, if you know what I mean. I might have continued to make bad decisions," he said. "To live with political prisoners and Jehovah’s Witnesses and soldiers guarding us, fulfilling their military service, corrupt businessmen, gangs, all kinds of people, representing so many different aspects of Korean society, to live among them in a much simpler, survivalist way. It was, among a lot of things, an amazing education. I really tried to keep my eyes and ears open as much as I could."

In the book, he affectionately describes scenes of everyday life in jail: a father and a son washing each other's back in the bath, 50-something prison inmates maintaining the rigid seniority of Korean society, inmates sharing meals. "There was a kind of brotherhood of suffering, of survival, among the prisoners, guys who had, in many cases, done horrible things, and yet they were also very often men of dignity, loyalty, friendship, intelligence, generosity, humor."

He learned basic Korean phrases and expressions, and part of the Korean national anthem. He still keeps his old passport with the Korean visa, and a portrait of him drawn by one of the inmates at the Daejeon prison.

Explaining his criticism of the Korean judicial system in the book, he says, "I would say that justice and punishment have to be smart, not just strong. The emphasis should be on smart. Strong usually comes easier to authorities. I would also say that the law was right in my case. People do need to be punished, controlled, taught lessons sometimes. There must be law and order."

Now writing a book on Equatorial Guinea and the Canary Islands, Cullen adds he is by no means done writing about Korea.

(englishnews@chosun.com )