Japanese prisoners dislike their unstylish pajamas, feel their cells are too small and want better meals, a government survey has found.
In a survey of inmates who left prison in the year to March, almost 70 percent of respondents who shared cells with others said they had too little space, while 44 percent of those in solitary confinement said their cells were too small, the justice ministry said in a report issued Wednesday.
Over half said their meals were bad and having supper at 5 p.m. was too early, while almost 75 percent wished for more bread with their meals rather than rice or noodles.
The former inmates also found their vertically striped grayish pajamas to be unfashionable. Close to half said the colors were bad, and 44 percent said the design was ugly.
I know a few folks who’ve done hard time. I have strong feelings about what can be done, what needs to be done to help ex-cons return to society through something other than a revolving door.
But, I also don’t need to hear from pantywaists concerned about a fashion statement.
Here’s another way to look at it:
You ask an ex-inmate whether he had any complaints about prison and first thing he comes up with is the food and the pajamas.
If that’s the worst thing about prison, then prison isn’t too bad.
I DIDN’T REALLY CARE THAT IT WASN’T STYLISH APPAREL, BUT IT SURE WAS ITCHY. THE FOOD WASN’T GREAT BUT WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT.
No bukkake gang bang?
I would have thought that most criminals in prison would say the anal rape is worse than striped pajamas, but then I’m not really into fashion too much.
Japan has 61 out of 100,000 of population in prison? The US has 750 per 100,000. Explanation or speculations anyone?
uhhhh…… it’s prison they’re not supposed to like anything about it, that’s the point! That’s the reason to not return to prison. They should take the survey of dislikes and double them. Cell to small? make it smaller, etc.
#5 – Japan has 61 out of 100,000 of population in prison? The US has 750 per 100,000. Explanation or speculations anyone?
I’ll guess. The US prison population is higher because we are a nation of petty thugs who introduce Draconian laws against even the smallest of perceived threats, then we over-incarcerate… couple that with the insane and indefensible anti-drug laws that place common pot smokers in prison… and finally, prosecutors are not in the business of justice, but rather in the business of racking up high scores in the conviction rate game, so we have many wrongly convicted people in prison and over 50% of those in prison are non-violent “offenders”.
Just a hunch.
#6 – uhhhh…… it’s prison they’re not supposed to like anything about it, that’s the point! That’s the reason to not return to prison. They should take the survey of dislikes and double them. Cell to small? make it smaller, etc.
That’s not the point. The point is about rehabilitation, and even though the story is about Japanese prisons, I’d point out that in America, we use prisons for almost every reason other than rehab. The state abuses its power daily and ruins the lives of thousands of people who should be treated in far different ways.
#7 –
I think you describe the symptoms of a terrified society of non-involved, tv addicted, poorly educated crtically-thinking-challenged children.
When the strongest epithet against a group is the word “liberal” and when the majority of those who use the word have little to no understanding of the history behind the word/term..you get really sad things happening in the sandbox. (no disrespect to Mr.Catshit)
And oh, btw, I know I’m constantly/continually off-topic with my posts and I sincerely apologize to those who may be offended but, as my only defense, I have to say I find the side issues for many of these articles to be a more accurate portrayal of the issue than the subject of the article might seem to indicate.
Just my two sense…
These guys should take a trip back to the prisons of fuedal japan and then come back.
I am sure they will LOVE the fresh, clean clothes and actual food and the ability to stand up straight when inside a cell.
People these days just haven’t had enough history given to them. If they did they would quickly realise those good old days weren’t so good.
Cursor_
The problem was that there wasn’t a flap in the back.
#2 – Hey STEVE, did they take all the lower case keys from you computer?
I am sure there were other, more relevant items mentioned. Only they never made it into the article.
***
#8, DeLeMa
None taken. I took this nickname as a joke recently and it has kind of grown on me. This way, no one can accuse me of not knowing shit !!!
#5 RTTaylor and #7…OFTLO…..The obvious answer here is that we need to make our cell’s smaller, take away the bread and buy crappy looking pajama’s for our prisinor’s to wear, then we would only have 61 fashion challenged people per 100,000 in jail. 🙂
OFTLO….what is this *rehabilitation* you speak of? Most people take the idea of punishment for your crime as just that….punishment.
Maybe if we incarcerated more kid’s, we could get people to support the idea of rehab in prison ***for the kid’s***…work’s for everything else.
OhForTheLoveOf said: “The US prison population is higher because we are a nation of petty thugs who introduce Draconian laws against even the smallest of perceived threats, then we over-incarcerate… couple that with the insane and indefensible anti-drug laws that place common pot smokers in prison… ”
That doesn’t explain the difference in prison numbers because the Japanese also have draconian laws and they throw people in prison for smoking pot.
“If you are arrested, even for minor offences such as petty theft or possession of very small quantities of illegal drugs, you may be held in detention for weeks or months during the investigation and legal proceedings. Under local law, a suspect can be held for up to 23 days without being formally charged with a crime and bail is seldom granted to foreigners.
Penalties for drug offences include lengthy imprisonment. Use or possession of small amounts of drugs may result in a prison sentence of between one and ten years and Japanese law allows for a fine of up to Yen 5,000,000 (A$57,000). Some people convicted of drug related offences have had their sentence suspended but will be issued with a deportation order. People deported under these circumstances are not permitted to return to Japan for five to ten years.”
http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/Japan