The Prison Law which has been untouched without major changes since 1908 was materially revised.
In the fall of 2002,
a series of incidents in which inmates died or were injured
by violent assaults using leather handcuffs, etc. in protection
cells in Nagoya Prison were revealed. Multiple prison officers
participated in the assault were arrested and prosecuted, which
became a center of social attention being discussed at the Diet
and through heavy coverage of the media. As a result of these
incidents, "the Correctional Administration Reform Council"
consisting of fifteen eminent persons from the private sector
was organized under the Minister of Justice at the end of March
in 2003.
This Advisory Panel announced
its recommendation entitled "Recommendation from the Correctional
Administration Reform Council: Aiming at Prisons that Gain the
Understanding and Support of the Citizens" on December
22, 2003.
Based on the recommendation,
the revision of the Prison Law was brought about for the first
time in nearly 100 years, and the "Law Concerning Penal
Institutions and the Treatment of Sentenced Inmates" (hereinafter
referred to as the "Law Concerning the Treatment of Sentenced
Inmates") was newly enacted and effectuated throughout
Japan as of May 24, 2006. (For more details about the revision
of the law, please refer to Section 1 of this booklet.)
In preparing this third edition, we revised the contents substantially in response to the enactment of the Law Concerning the Treatment of Sentenced Inmates. We hope this booklet will be helpful your inmate life.
Sections concerning unconvicted and suspected persons (suspects and defendants) and convicts with death penalty in the Prison Law were diverged and developed to a new law in the form of amendments of this Law Concerning the Treatment of Sentenced Inmates, on June 2, 2006. This new law will be enforced by June 7, 2007.
The new law created from
the amendments of the Law Concerning the Treatment of Sentenced
Inmates is given a new name "Law Concerning Penal and Detention
Facilities and the Treatment of Inmates," which will apply
to those who are detained in the penal and detention facilities
including convicts, unconvicted and suspected persons and convicts
with death penalty. When describing provisions of the law, firstly
we show the clause of the Law Concerning the Treatment of Sentenced
Inmates, and then the clause of the "Law Concerning Penal
and Detention Facilities and the Treatment of Inmates."
(hereinafter referred to as "Law Concerning the Treatment
of Inmates") following in the brackets.
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