Photo/Illutration A dormitory room for inmates working at Matsuyama Prison's Oi Shipyard in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, is seen on April 15, 2018. (Tatsuo Kanai)

IMABARI, Ehime Prefecture--On a recent summer day, a man was welding at a shipbuilding factory here among other workers, sending sparks flying into the air.

He and about 10 others live in a dormitory on the factory's premises and work there on weekdays. But on weekends, they return to Matsuyama Prison where they are incarcerated behind walls.

Although their workplace is called Matsuyama Prison's Oi Shipyard, there are no high walls or iron bars like a regular incarceration facility. 

Instead, a study group is seeking ways to allow inmates live in "prisons without walls" and work at private companies.

The planned program is aimed at helping them reintegrate into society with emphasis placed on their rehabilitation.

On that July day, Masatsugu Nakai, chairman of Chibo Corp., which operates an "okonomiyaki" pancake restaurant chain, artistic swimming instructor Masayo Imura and others visited the shipyard to watch the inmates at work.

Nakai and Imura are members of the study group set up by the Nippon Foundation for the introduction of prisons without walls.

Working in collaboration with the Justice Ministry, the group has held discussions since June. It intends to compile a set of recommendations soon and ask the minister to establish prisons with no walls.

What serves as a basis for such a concept is the "Shokushin" (job-parent) project launched by the foundation in 2013.

Prisoners spend a certain period of time in a closed environment.

Consequently, the gap between inmates and the outside world becomes a barrier when they are released, driving many of them to turn to a life of crime again.

Under the special mentoring project, participating companies accept former inmates of prisons and reformatories and support their reintegration into society by acting as their guardians and providing them with jobs and housing.

By June, 430 companies are participating in the project.

But Nakai, who also serves as head of the project, said some people disappear suddenly even if everything appears to be going well.

He thought it was necessary to create an intermediate place that smoothly bridges between the inside and outside of prisons.

There are several correctional facilities without walls, including the Oi Shipyard.

But the group intends to take the mentoring project even further.

The members are considering allowing inmates to live in housing facilities without walls and work at private workplaces on a daily basis while using cameras, biometric devices and the latest equipment to supervise them.

Inmates eligible for the planned system will be carefully selected.

For example, prisoners who live and work at the Oi Shipyard are selected from those who meet certain conditions, including that they must be less likely to be repeat offenders.

The group is also considering setting up certain standards.

GAINING SOCIAL UNDERSTANDING

However, it remains a major challenge to gain understanding from the public.

In 2018, an inmate escaped from the Oi Shipyard and swam across the Seto Inland Sea. Although he was found in Hiroshima Prefecture, the incident caused a public uproar.

"It is imperative to explain to the public that we want to implement a new correctional method that has not been previously possible," said Makoto Hayashi, a former prosecutor-general and member of the study group.

Currently, prison sentences are differentiated by those that require inmates to work and those that do not.

These two categories will be integrated into one in June 2025 to prioritize education and guidance and help reintegrate inmates into society.

The group is also aiming to make the planned wall-less facilities a model for the new penal system.

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