Hell hole: 39 years of solitary confinement

[younggiftedandblack]

In a good week, they may be able to sink into the squalor of a filthy bath three times. Simply saying "good morning" is enough for a fine or even a beating. They're shut away in tiny cells about 9 meters square. They might be allowed to meet somebody every now and again, but the visitor would have to be really famous.

Japan's prisons have long copped flak from Western human rights organizations, but solitary confinement in Japanese penitentiary can be a living Hell that lasts for decades and has few crueler counterparts throughout the world, according to Flash (2/18).

"Overseas, the longest a prisoner would be kept in solitary confinement would be three months and anything over a year would soon be banned, but there're at least 30 prisoners in Japanese jails who've been in solitary confinement for at least 10 years. At least one prisoner has been in there for 39 years," Yuichi Kaido, a lawyer and representative of the Prison Human Rights Center, tells Flash. "Usually, solitary confinement goes for six months, but it can be extended every three months at the discretion of the prison head."

Japan's Penal Code was drawn up in 1909 and its rules regarding solitary confinement are unchanged since that time. Prisoners must be totally withdrawn from all other detainees. They are forbidden from taking part in regular prison work and given menial duties to perform in their tiny cells.

"They can only leave their cells for baths, exercise and visitors. The baths are squalid, tiny individual areas and they're only allowed two or three a week. There is only 30 minutes allocated for exercise. They can't play sports like soccer or baseball, like the other prisoners, but instead have to walk around by themselves in a tiny area known as a torikoya (chicken coop)," Kaido tells Flash.

Speaking without permission is strictly forbidden and can incur a fine. Solitary confinement inmates are not permitted to take part in prison recreation activities, such as movie screenings.

"So many cases of mental illness have been caused by having people shoved into these cells and forbidden from communicating with other people," Kaido says. "In some cases, people have lost use of their limbs and all invariably end up with a bad back."

Meetings with solitary confinement prisoners are also notoriously difficult to set up and at least one case exists where a Diet member was refused a visit because prison authorities felt that the politician was not famous enough.

Japan has 58 prisons for adult convicts, of which five openly admit to holding more than one prisoner who has been in solitary confinement for more than a decade. Some prisons refuse to comment on the status of their inmates. Others defend their stance regarding the detention of inmates in solitude.

"Every one of our inmates suffers from some sort of mental disease. You may accuse us of violating human rights, but the situation facing us is different to that confronting other prisons," a spokesman for a psychiatric prison in Kitakyushu tells Flash.

Gifu Prison officials are also unapologetic for keeping six men in the solitary cooler since at least the early '90s.

"To be frankly honest, we don't want to keep them in solitary confinement. Like everywhere else in Japan, Gifu Prison has got more prisoners than it was built to handle. We'd be delighted to promptly move the solitary confinement prisoners back in with the main body of convicts," a Gifu Prison spokesman tells Flash. "You must note that some prisoners don't want to leave. And other prisoners, like those who've gone senile, or who get violent, simply can't be put back in with the main prison body because they wouldn't feel at home there. We don't think we're violating anybody's human rights at all."

[pfc beansprout]

boy...interesting...taking a "penology" course in the spring....lets see what i can add later (errr...in 2 or so months =x)

[rice cracker]

My step-dad used to threaten me with Japanese prison to keep me from causing trouble off base.

[VV o n g B a]

39 years... thats hard to comprehend. i haven't even lived that long. damn.

[yoMAMA]

Originally Posted by rice cracker

My step-dad used to threaten me with Japanese prison to keep me from causing trouble off base.

Should have used Chinese prison instead!

[rice cracker]

Originally Posted by yoMAMA

Should have used Chinese prison instead!

Well, we weren't in China

[AngryABCGirl]

Couldn't you argue some of these people had it coming? I seriously wouldn't mind seeing a rapist go mad by himself in a little grey room.

[yoMAMA]

Originally Posted by AzNBuffGrL

Couldn't you argue some of these people had it coming? I seriously wouldn't mind seeing a rapist go mad by himself in a little grey room.

I think there's the revenge factor, but then i guess there's also the thing that prisoners have rights, too.

[just like the U.S, when they sue the prison for no cable tv and too much fatty food ]

[SunWuKong]

Originally Posted by yoMAMA

I think there's the revenge factor, but then i guess there's also the thing that prisoners have rights, too.

[just like the U.S, when they sue the prison for no cable tv and too much fatty food ]

i don't think prisoners of very serious crime should have any rights. the second he took away someone's naturally given rights, he has given up his own.

[Mr.Lum]

suck for them!

[nonamerasian]

I'd like for U.S. prisions to learn from other countries in terms of harshness, but this is too much.

[Mr.Lum]

I think if you kill a person (murder them) or rape a woman and especialy a child you should be killed. period. I dont care what Europeans say. a person like that does not deserve to live.

[AliBabaIncorporated]

Originally Posted by crackwh0re

I really liked the "all of our prisoners have some type of mental disease" part. It was a pretty smart statement

Read the article closely:

"Every one of our inmates suffers from some sort of mental disease. You may accuse us of violating human rights, but the situation facing us is different to that confronting other prisons," a spokesman for a psychiatric prison in Kitakyushu tells Flash.

Originally Posted by SunWuKong

i don't think prisoners of very serious crime should have any rights. the second he took away someone's naturally given rights, he has given up his own.

If you are reasonably sure that the guy has been convicted properly, I fully agree. But I have about zero faith in the Japanese justice system because they permit 21-day confinement without seeing your lawyer (during which physical abuse of prisoners by police is regularly ignored), plenty of time for police to beat a confession out of you, or just deprive you of sleep for so long that you'll sign anything. Also I believe that could be extended at the discretion of the Ministry of Justice. Writ of habeas corpus? never heard of it.

[mr. x]

thing is, isnt japan sorta lenient on rapists?

i think what disturbs a lot of people is that its remiscent of the old japanese POW treatment