Originally published by the New Criminologist 12/12/2005

Introduction

Japanese prisons for convicted adult offenders are remarkable in a number of ways. Overcrowding is not a problem in Japan’s 74 main prisons and 117 branch prisons. Assaults by prisoners on other inmates and on prison officers hardly ever occur. Drugs and weapons are virtually non-existent within prison walls. Gangs are absent. Suicides are rare. Hardly anyone escapes, or tries to do so.(1) Over 90 per cent of prisoners work an eight-hour day. Overseas visitors are often struck, when visiting Japanese prison workshops, to find large numbers of prisoners working with sharp knives and other instruments which could so easily be turned into lethal weapons. Their surprise is compounded by the small number of guards supervising them.(2) A feature of Japanese prisons is a lower ratio of prison staff to prisoners than in many other countries. Japanese prisons are noted for the rigidity and harshness of their regimes.(3) Prisoners are required to show absolute obedience to a vast number of rules, formulated by each individual prison, covering virtually every conceivable aspect of prison life. …