the article briefly mentioned somewhat inadequate health care ... other than that, I fail to see what they're complaining about.

They're in prison...not on the catwalk. Deal with it because would you rather have bright orange or be stuck in a prison here.

well japanese typically pay top dollar for what amounts to renting a dorm room around the cities, so if the inmates are complaining about too little space, there may be something to it.

more problematic though is the interrogation practices of the police. you do not have the right to remain silent in japan. they can hold you for 30 days until they coerce a confession out of you. there are no checks or balances to what the police do to you doing those 30 days, as none of it is recorded.

Don't do the crime if you can't do the crime.

/waiting for the "but the stupid cops have put all the dealers away for years" comments

A prison should include no more than a toilet, soap and water, cot and one hour of outdoor exercise time

or

an option to work detail for State projects.

/wouldn't mind solitary confinement for a day or two a month.

I feel that anyone convicted of any crime, ever, should be immediately executed. I mean, they are criminals, right? So obviously they don't deserve any humane treatment. Not to mention that every government's disciplinary arm is always just and never sends innocent people to prison.
/the about fashion was funny

The most interesting thing I found out about their prison system when I was stationed over there was that the prisons are silent. Prisoners speak when spoken to by a member of staff and they don't make eye contact (disrespectful). Things might have changed a lot in 20 years but I doubt that their society has changed that much.

One other difference in their society is that the police don't make an arrest until they have a solid case. When you are arrested in Japan conviction is almost inevitable. Arrest equals guilt in that system.

castufari: Don't do the crime if you can't do the crime.


But if you can't do the crime, how can you do the crime?

/say what?

In a survey of inmates who left prison in the year to March, almost 70 per cent of respondents who shared cells with others said they had too little space, while 44 per cent of those in solitary confinement said their cells were too small, the justice ministry said in a report.

Stop telling them to "suck it up". They were asked by the government what they would have liked changed in prison. I can't imagine anyone spending several years in any prison and saying "Well, honestly, I have no complaints."

Japanese prisons have a reputation for being notoriously bad, I'm sure that the prisoners said nothing of the institutionalized beatings, the overcrowding and inadequate medical care.

perhaps we should do an exchange program and let some our guys spend some time in their system. Give a them a point of reference for their complaints.

give a them? that must be the Guido coming out in me.

advex101:

One other difference in their society is that the police don't make an arrest until they have a solid case. When you are arrested in Japan conviction is almost inevitable. Arrest equals guilt in that system.

Not exactly, since the police can hold you in jail for up to 23 days before charging you, most people confess to crimes that they didn't commit just so that they can get on with their lives.

Amnesty International, bring you the best in "More concerned about criminals than crime victims".

randomjsa: Amnesty International, bring you the best in "More concerned about criminals than crime victims".

Something something...best societies...something something...how they treat their worst...

/forgets how it goes

Well, when societies treat criminals better than most of the 'free' citizens, something tells me there's a problem.

While in prison, you're guaranteed to be clothed, fed, sheltered, probably have access to health care, a gym, television, probably more. Many US citizens don't have half of what some prisoners get.

ihatedumbpeople: Well, when societies treat criminals better than most of the 'free' citizens, something tells me there's a problem.

While in prison, you're guaranteed to be clothed, fed, sheltered, probably have access to health care, a gym, television, probably more. Many US citizens don't have half of what some prisoners get.

Then why don't you sell some crack and go there, if it's so nice in prison and you have it so bad?

castufari: Don't do the crime if you can't do the crime.

/waiting for the "but the stupid cops have put all the dealers away for years" comments

how about "But the Japanese system has an almost perfect arrest/conviction %"

It's one of those things that you know here. You don't want to be accused of a crime, because, whether or not you did it, you're going down for it.

Also, from everything I've heard, Japanese Prison is less fun than US Prison. Take that with a UFIA, and call me in the morning. My. Morning. I am soooo not answering the phone if I'm asleep.

advex101: The most interesting thing I found out about their prison system when I was stationed over there was that the prisons are silent. Prisoners speak when spoken to by a member of staff and they don't make eye contact (disrespectful). Things might have changed a lot in 20 years but I doubt that their society has changed that much.

One other difference in their society is that the police don't make an arrest until they have a solid case. When you are arrested in Japan conviction is almost inevitable. Arrest equals guilt in that system.


Except that the Japanese system relies often on confessions forced out of people by very dubious means... people who don't understand what they are signing, scary back rooms, and the like.

Have you ever been to a Japanese prison?

Japanese prisons are about one step above US military interrogation sites...prisoners have no rights whatsoever. Basically, once you're in, that's it: you disappear from the world. Amnesty International has had very little success in getting foreign nationals extradited to serve sentence in their own country.

Do some web searching about the prison system in Japan, and keep in mind that the worst thing the prisoners dared complain about was...the pyjamas.

*shudder* there are a few countries in the world you REALLY don't wanna get arrested in. Japan's one of them. Multiply that by 10 if you're a foreigner with western expectations of individual rights.

Yes. Always a very strong case first.

/lupiiin the thriiiird

Timdesuyo:Except that the Japanese system relies often on confessions forced out of people by very dubious means... people who don't understand what they are signing, scary back rooms, and the like.

That, and then there are guys like this:

________
IIDA, Nagano -- An unemployed man was arrested Wednesday for strangling a woman he had got acquainted with through a suicide website, police said.

Junichiro Mine, 27, of Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, is accused of murdering Keiko Shimizu, 27, a resident of the Nagano Prefecture city of Matsumoto.

He has admitted to the allegations. Investigators are poised to conduct an autopsy on her body to determine the exact cause of her death.

At about 6 a.m. on Wednesday, local police received an emergency call from Mine reporting that he murdered a woman at a hotel in the Chuodori district of Iida. Officers rushed to the scene and found Shimizu lying dead. Mine was taken into custody after he admitted to having strangled her.
___________

I remember reading a few more similar cases on Gaijinsmash (above quote from linked article) but can't find any right now. I seem to recall someone chopping up a few people and then turning themselves in, or something like that.

Isn't Kira taking care of that problem?

etymxris: well japanese typically pay top dollar for what amounts to renting a dorm room around the cities, so if the inmates are complaining about too little space, there may be something to it.

A single room is 3 mats, that IS pretty small. If it's a multiple room, it'll have 5 or so guys in it, each one gets about that same equivalent space but then they'd share the one toilet.

Bathing is twice weekly, communal, and timed.

The main difference with US prison (for standard "doing the time" prison) is that the prisoners are made to work in factories 8 hours a day (with Sunday off in their cells). Pretty much every moment is regimented. The official idea is to get you used to living with crazy rules so you can supposedly resume function in society.

You can have a given number of books at one time, all of them get screened first, anything YOU write gets read and screened, it's forbidden to read/write any language other than Japanese, to allow this (not sure if they have special facilities in the foreigner prisons though), it's also forbidden to write any sort of codes or certain slang they think could be codes.

Punishment cell, though, you can get sent to a room with only a hole in the floor for shiatting in, and have your hands bound to your waist with a leather belt thing (one in front, one in back) and have to eat from the floor.

For what it's worth, foreigners can get sent to separate prisons. I have no idea the specifics of those, it's just one type of prison in the list of types (first timers, men, women, repeat, long termers, etc etc).

/thank goodness, never been to prison myself
//just have lots of books about it
///written by people with experience I never want to share...



As others said, the conviction part is the most worrisome though I think.

I so hope this wasn't a government-sponsored survey...

mobby_6kl: Timdesuyo:Except that the Japanese system relies often on confessions forced out of people by very dubious means... people who don't understand what they are signing, scary back rooms, and the like.

That, and then there are guys like this:

________
IIDA, Nagano -- An unemployed man was arrested Wednesday for strangling a woman he had got acquainted with through a suicide website, police said.

Junichiro Mine, 27, of Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, is accused of murdering Keiko Shimizu, 27, a resident of the Nagano Prefecture city of Matsumoto.

He has admitted to the allegations. Investigators are poised to conduct an autopsy on her body to determine the exact cause of her death.

At about 6 a.m. on Wednesday, local police received an emergency call from Mine reporting that he murdered a woman at a hotel in the Chuodori district of Iida. Officers rushed to the scene and found Shimizu lying dead. Mine was taken into custody after he admitted to having strangled her.
___________

I remember reading a few more similar cases on Gaijinsmash (above quote from linked article) but can't find any right now. I seem to recall someone chopping up a few people and then turning themselves in, or something like that.


I have this discussion with my wife all the time. The States has a lot more violent crime. But when the Japanese do violent crime, it's a work of art.

/Knew a guy who worked in that decapitated student on school gate school
//Not condoning violence

Not impressed:

Loverboy586: Isn't Kira taking care of that problem?

I would have thought so, but then again, he was finally caught after all, wasn't he?

This just in...it's JAIL! Not the farkin' Ramada!

What about ass rape, boys? Shouldn't that be a larger priority?

bingo the psych-o: castufari: Don't do the crime if you can't do the crime.


But if you can't do the crime, how can you do the crime?

/say what?

Damnit. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

No one bit my troll about the innocent drug dealers. I'm depressed now.

d1rtfarm: I feel that anyone convicted of any crime, ever, should be immediately executed. I mean, they are criminals, right? So obviously they don't deserve any humane treatment.

I also agree with a large number of balanced and rational people in this thread and think that prison should be as miserable place as possible to minimize the chances of the individual becoming a normal member of society upon release. I do this because I want to ensure that more crimes are committed, more sociopaths are walking the streets, and the overall financial and non-financial cost to society is far higher than it otherwise would have been. I want this because I am a True Christian who believes in bronze-age exodus eye-for-an-eye logic rather than anything involving compassion as purportedly spouted by whatsizname. Also, whatsizname led by example by showing us how tax cuts for the rich eventually trickle down to the poorest of the poor.

Quantumbunny: Loverboy586: Isn't Kira taking care of that problem?

I would have thought so, but then again, he was finally caught after all, wasn't he?

In 2013, so he should be still good to go.

Send them to Florence, Co. and lets see if they are still complaining after a couple of weeks.

Boo hoo. Treat them the way Japan treated captured enemy soldiers during the war and see how they like it.

For no reason at all, here's a hot a Japanese girl:

fred and steve's steakhouse
Cells too small ? Jap businessmen pay 50 bucks a night for this room ! how small could the cells possible be ?

There's probably a hundred ways you could have said that without sounding like an inbred cousin-farker. Piece of shiat.

strangeguitar: For no reason at all, here's a hot a Japanese girl:

fapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfap

The only problem I see about this article is that it clouds the real problems with Japan's prison systems. From my understanding, the press clubs (Kisa clubs) love this kind of stuff because it takes the edge off of more serious issues by trivializing the overall idea that there's something wrong with the system to begin with.

However, on the grand scheme of things it seems that the only time anyone is interested in news from Japan (outside of Japan itself and East Asia) is when it's something odd to begin with...