Former Actress Moe Aizawa’s Shocking Revelations on Life Inside Women’s Prison After Methamphetamine Arrest

Ririchan, who was arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting fraud for selling manuals detailing scams that use romantic feelings to swindle money, is facing a 13-year prison sentence, sparking various reactions.

So, what is the women’s prison she would enter if she received a prison sentence? Female inmates make up a small percentage of all inmates in prisons, and the internal workings are rarely discussed, but what kind of place is it?

Former AV actress Moe Aizawa, who spent about 13 years in prison for violations of the Narcotics Control Law and the Narcotics Special Provisions Law, spoke about it.

 

“I’m Moe Aizawa. I’m a former AV actress who was in prison. I was released on October 13th last year. Nice to meet you.”

Aizawa starts the conversation brightly. She first dabbled in stimulants when she was a teenager, invited by her boyfriend at the time.

“At that time, I used stimulants in a party-like atmosphere at drinking parties. I started using them alone when the AV agency I belonged to dissolved and I had free time. I started getting involved with drug dealers, and they told me, ‘Instead of just inhaling, try injecting,’ and I got more and more addicted from there.”

Initially, before the criminal punishment is finalized, life in a detention center awaits. Aizawa, who talks about her time in a detention center as stricter than prison life, reflects that she also had faults when she was apprehended by the police.

“The first thing I felt when I was arrested was how strict Tokyo Detention Center was. Looking back now, I realize my behavior wasn’t good, but I felt hopeless because I wasn’t treated like a human. I didn’t expect it to be like this and was trembling with fear, but once I entered prison, including the prison guards, everyone was kind, so I was surprised. It’s like a very strict girls’ school if you think about it.”

In the detention center, she was placed in solitary confinement and ignored when she tried to talk to the staff. None of her requests were heard. Compared to this environment, she describes prison as relatively lenient. After the charges are finalized and she is transferred to prison, she begins communal living in the general population.

Living in a society within the confines of cages, something she had never experienced before. There, she encountered unexpected rules that were unheard of outside.

“The first thing that surprised me was being told not to ask for people’s first names. Also, we weren’t supposed to ask about each other’s charges or sentences. I guess it was to prevent hierarchies, but in the end, you find out after a few months anyway.”

Furthermore, in prison, acquiring basic necessities like glasses requires numerous procedures. Most inmates acquire them by writing letters to their parents or friends, but Aizawa reveals she didn’t want to inconvenience her family and friends, so she used a service called purchase proxy.

“When I wanted something, I used a service called purchase proxy, which buys daily necessities and delivers them instead of elderly people who need care. For purchase proxy inside the prison, they take on jobs for 30,000 to 50,000 yen per use. At that time, I really wanted a magnifying glass, so I used purchase proxy to buy glasses for a total of 45,000 yen.

My assigned prison guard scolded me, saying I was ‘throwing away money,’ but for me, who didn’t want to inconvenience my friends and family and drift away from them, it was necessary.”

 Finding a purchase proxy company was also difficult; she contacted 10 companies, but only received responses from 2, and only 1 agreed to take on the job. Aizawa speculates that even from the perspective of purchase proxy companies, they might not want to engage in transactions if the other party is in prison.

In this way, it is said that romantic relationships between women are more common in women’s prisons, perhaps due to the various restrictions and inconveniences of life there. Aizawa herself had relationships with women during her long incarceration, and it seems there were other inmates in similar situations.

The person she was involved with was a bisexual woman. She never thought she would be in a relationship with a woman, but she says there were quite a few similar people. Since it was a relationship within the communal living of the prison, they held hands while sleeping and engaged in kissing or pseudo-sexual activities while avoiding the gaze of the guards.

“Besides romantic relationships between inmates, there were also people who approached female prison guards. A prison guard with short hair, tall stature, and a slender figure, like a male role in Takarazuka, was popular. Some would send signals (making heart shapes with their fingers) during midnight rounds.”

There were inmates who expressed interest in attractive guards, indicating a value system similar to that of a girls’ school.

Aizawa has now finished her prison life and emerged into the outside world. Her current goal is to become a source of hope for those in prison.

 

She continues her activities every day to establish a company that provides specialized support for prison visits and helps ex-convicts reintegrate into society, aiming to contribute to society. One can only hope that her efforts in rehabilitation are successful.