List of Issues:

1. Solitary Confinement
   
   

   Be it an unconvicted detainee, be it a convict who is held in solitary confinement for 24 hours a day, or be it every convict who has been sentenced to death, any detainee who is held in solitary confinement is deprived of human contact with other inmates. The number of detainees who are treated in such a manner should be disclosed.
   
   Even a casual talk between warders and detainees held in solitary confinement is prohibited. It is not rare for such conditions to be maintained for years at a time, and in some cases for over ten years. Thus, detainees who are held in solitary confinement live in conditions of gross human rights violations, as much as to cause some of them suffer mental disorders. This treatment violates articles 7 and 10 of the Covenant.
   
   

2. Lack of Outdoor Exercise
   
   

   At detention houses and prisons outdoor exercise is permitted for only 30-minute periods two or three times a week. This condition most probably violates article 10 of the Covenant and paragraph 21 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.
   
   

3. The Prohibition against Meeting and Corresponding with Friends
   
   

   It is probable that not allowing convicts, including those who are sentenced to death, to meet or correspond with people other than immediate family members and their lawyers violates articles 10 and 17 of the Covenant.
   
   

4. Denial of the Opportunity for Confidential Consultations with Defense Counsel
   
   

   A warder may be present at meetings between regular convicts or convicts who are sentenced to death and their defense counsel, and the warder may take notes regarding the content of the conversation that takes place. In addition, any written communications between the convict and his/her defense counsel are subject to censorship. These practices violate article 10 and article14, paragraph 1 of the Covenant.
   
   

5. Inhumane Treatment
   
   

   Because many of the detention facilities are not equipped with air conditioners and heaters many detainees suffer from frostbite during the winter months. Without appropriate medical care, some detainees suffer from bad health, and even a death has been reported. On some cell windows there are blinds that prevent the detainee from seeing outside. Does this kind of treatment not violate article 10 of the Covenant?
   
   

6. Interference with the Detainee's Trial Preparations
   
   

   New regulations enacted in 1977 impose restrictions on the keeping of trial records and other evidentiary materials at the prison. The regulation makes it difficult for the detainee to keep at hand her trial records for either a criminal or a civil case. This treatment violates article 10 and article 14, paragraph 3 (b) as well as paragraph 1 of the Covenant.

Background:

1. A particular characteristic of Japanese prisons is that many prisoners are placed in solitary confinement for 24 hours a day. Unconvicted detainees are placed in either single or communal cells. While inmates in communal cells may talk among themselves, it is forbidden for detainees in single cells to talk to the detainees in neighboring cells.
   
   Most convicts work together at prison factories during the daytime, but about ten percent of the convicts are said to be unsuited for working and living with others, and these convicts are placed in solitary confinement for 24 hours a day. The reasons for placing such prisoners in solitary confinement usually range from mental instability to their having caused trouble with other inmates. Furthermore, if a prisoner files a lawsuit against the prison that too can become a reason for putting the prisoner into solitary confinement.
   
   Without exception, convicts who are sentenced to death are placed in solitary confinement.
   
   A lawsuit is currently being brought against Asahikawa Prison where a convict was placed in solitary confinement for 13 years.
   
   
2. At detention houses and prisons there are no exercise periods on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, or on rainy days, or on days when prisoners are allowed to bathe (twice a week in winter, three times a week in summer). As a result, the actual number of days on which exercise is possible is approximately 160 days a year. Those who are held in solitary confinement cannot go outdoors for over 200 days out of the year. Moreover, an exercise period for a day on which exercise is allowed is limited to only 30 minutes. This treatment violates Paragraph 21 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.
   
   
3. While unconvicted detainees are allowed to meet with friends, convicts and inmates who are sentenced to death are not permitted to meet with or correspond with friends or with the members of NGOs. A convict who does not have family relations can have absolutely no exchange with people from outside the prison. When the convict's family lives abroad or in a location far from the prison the convict can only exchange letters, and cannot receive visitors.
   
   Not only is this severe limitation on communication with those outside the prison inhumane, but it also causes a loss of contact with society which will make it more difficult for the prisoner to make a smooth transition to life outside the prison after release.
   
   
4. Unconvicted detainees can consult with their defense counsel in private. However, in the case of convicts and inmates who have been sentenced to death, a warder is present taking notes on the content of conversation when they consult with their lawyers over their petition for a retrial or the damage suit against the prison for its maltreatment.
   
   The Takamatsu High Court handed down a judgment on November 25, 1997, with a conclusion that restricting a consultation between a prisoner and his/her lawyer to only 30 minutes and requiring that a warder be present at the meeting was illegal in that an adequate consultation under those conditions is impossible. This ruling was epoch-making in that it approved the domestic validity of the Covenant. Furthermore, it admitted that the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment and the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights can be used as guidelines in the interpretation of the Covenant. This case, however, was appealed by the Japanese government and is still pending at the Supreme Court.
   
   All letters written by detainees to their lawyers, even unconvicted detainees, are subject to censorship.
   
   These practices violate article 14, paragraph 1 as well as paragraph 3 (b) of the Covenant, and article 18, paragraph 3 of the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment.
   
   
5. Detention facilities in Japan are not equipped with air conditioners, except in Hokkaido which is in the very northernmost area of Japan. Many detainees suffer from frostbite due to the cold. In particular, there are serious effects on the health of foreign prisoners who are originally from warm climates.
   
   Some prisoners are troubled with ill health and there was even a death reported due to insufficient medical care. On the 25th of July 1996, a prisoner died of heatstroke in a cell at the Hamada branch house of detention in Shimane Prefecture. The extremely high temperature in the closed cell is thought to be the cause of death.
   
   There are an increasing number of cases in which prisoners are placed in solitary confinement for 24 hours a day in cells that have blinds on the windows that do not allow the prisoner to look outside the cell. Confinement in such a cell violates paragraph 11 of the Standard Minimum Rules for Treatment of Prisoners, and long-term confinement in such a cell would appear to violate article 10 of the Covenant.
   
   
6. The newly enacted regulation of 1997 makes it difficult for prisoners to keep trial records and other evidentiary materials that concern their own case at hand in the prison, and it actually causes inconveniences in trial proceedings. This is an infringement of the right of a detainee to his/her own defense in criminal or civil trials, and it also violates article 10, and article 14, paragraph 3 (b) of the Covenant. The JCLU issued a statement in June of 1998 to demand that the regulation be repealed.