Photo/Illutration The Tokyo Detention House in the capital’s Katsushika Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

A death row inmate intends to sue the central government for about 19 million yen ($137,000) for invasion of privacy, claiming he was placed under continuous video surveillance for more than a decade without explanation.

Teppei Ono, the man’s lawyer and secretary-general of the nonprofit Center for Prisoners’ Rights, said constant monitoring such as this is a violation of prisoners’ rights.

“Being monitored for 24 hours a day for an extended period violates the dignity of detainees,” Ono said, and urged the prison to change the practice.

According to the prisoner’s prepared court claim, which he is expected to soon file with the Tokyo District Court, the man was convicted of murder and has been detained at the Tokyo Detention House since he was sentenced to death at his first trial in 2007. His sentence was finalized in 2013.

He was placed in a cell equipped with a surveillance camera mounted on the ceiling, with no word of explanation of why, according to the documents.

The cell was about 3.5 tatami mats in size (about 5.6 square meters), and it was laid out as such that the camera monitored the man’s every move, including changing clothes and going to the bathroom.

In March this year, several months after the man questioned the prison about the situation, he was suddenly moved to another cell that did not have a camera.

The man said there were no circumstances, such as attempted suicide, escape, self-harm or changes to his mental state, which would require the constant close observation, based on the penal institution’s internal regulations.

“The prison acted illegally by not fully considering whether such treatment was necessary, and it continued monitoring the man loosely” for more than 14 years, the claim said.

The Tokyo Detention House told The Asahi Shimbun that it typically places an inmate in a cell equipped with a camera “when the person is likely at risk of suicide, attempting to escape or harming others, and close monitoring of the person’s movement is required.”

The decision is left to the discretion of the head of the penal institution and there is no upper limit to the time period, the prison said.

The man's lawyer said he is not the only convict on death row who has been placed in a room equipped with a surveillance camera for a lengthy period of time.

Ono said he interviewed four death row convicts detained at the Tokyo penal institution in May. They all told him they were placed in a cell equipped with a camera for extended periods, ranging from three to 15 years.

They told him they were not at risk of suicide or attempting to escape, Ono said.

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