Nagoya Prison was not the only one… Accusations of “inmate bullying” occurring at “Kochi Prison”!

Only the staff here are really pissed off. The prison doesn’t allow us to say “you” when calling inmates’ names, and it seems to be a big problem in other prisons… but here they call us “you” without hesitation… they called me “you” today, too…” (The letter was written by Mr. Ishikawa to his foster father.

This uniquely written sentence is part of a letter sent by Kiyoshi Ishikawa (29, pseudonym), a prisoner at Kochi Prison, to his foster father (56) on November 14, 2010, on six sheets of stationery. As is well known, prisoners are called by their names and three- or four-digit numbers. In Mr. Ishikawa’s case, however, as the letter quoted above shows, he was routinely addressed as “you” and forced into an unjust subordinate relationship.

Mr. Ishikawa was also subjected to violence by prison guards. The following is a quote from the same letter.

I kept quiet for a long time, but… when I was at one factory (the name of the factory where prison work is done), a (prison) officer was doing terrible things to me… while I was exercising at the factory, he came up to me and poked my nipples several times with some kind of hard, pointy paper and asked me to stop… He kept poking my nipples with some kind of hard, pointy paper thing and asking me to stop.

The adoptive father who provided this letter to this magazine said.

When Seishi was exercising during a break in his work, a prison guard suddenly called out to him, “Ishikawa! and he was harassed by a prison guard who poked him in the chest. Kiyoshi repeatedly asked the officer to stop, and the harassment finally stopped. He said he had to use humble language in response to such harassment because he feared that if he offended the prison guard, the inmate might be punished in return.

There is no shortage of reports of violence occurring in the isolated space of prisons.

Late last year, the Ministry of Justice held an emergency press conference and announced that 22 prison guards at Nagoya Prison had assaulted three inmates, grabbing them by the chest and slapping them in the face. It was later confirmed that there had been more than 100 such assaults. Since there had been another incident at Nagoya Prison about 20 years ago that resulted in the death or injury of an inmate, which also led to the revision of the law, there was widespread surprise among legal professionals.

The assault at Nagoya Prison was discovered when a staff member found an injury on an inmate’s face. What would happen if such signs were overlooked or hidden? Mr. Ishikawa’s letter to his foster father is the voiceless voice of a prisoner who tells of the realities inside the prison. Mr. Ishikawa’s appeal goes on.

The prison guards’ brutality began when they made false accusations against Mr. Ishikawa as he ate his meal.

The prison guard pointed at Kiyoshi and another inmate and said something they did not do, such as, ‘You guys are exchanging meals, aren’t you? Kiyoshi apparently replied, ‘I did not receive such a thing,’ but this attitude apparently offended the prison guard, and both Kiyoshi and the other inmate were punished.

The punishment at the time was solitary confinement, in which the inmates were confined to their cells. Normally, the number of inmates in a solitary confinement cell is six, but at the time, the number was limited to three or four to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. Mr. Ishikawa was moved from here to a solitary confinement cell, where he spent about 10 days, and then the plant where prison work was performed was also changed.

Continued in Part 2 : “Forced to urinate in front of other inmates… The spectacular reality of ‘inmate bullying’ at Kochi Prison.

Interview and text by Naoyuki Miyashita (nonfiction writer)
naoyukimiyashita@pm.me