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Part 2: Incarcerated mothers don’t always get to care for their babies after giving birth. Even when they do, thoughts of uncertain futures for their children keep mothers from giving the best of themselves.
During a Diet session last week, Japan’s Ministry of Justice announced it had broadened a directive initially sent to all penal institutions in 2014 that effectively bans the use of restraints on imprisoned pregnant women inside delivery rooms.
During a parliamentary session on Thursday, Japan’s Justice Minister Ryuji Koizumi said that between 2014 and 2022, the Justice Ministry found six violations of a 2014 directive effectively banning all penal institutions from using restraints on imprisoned pregnant women inside delivery rooms.
The 76-page report, “‘They Don’t Treat Us like Human Beings’: Abuse of Imprisoned Women in Japan,” documents the abusive conditions in many women’s prisons in Japan. Government policies towards women in prison violate international human rights conventions and contravene international standards such as the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules of the Treatment of Prisoners, known as the Mandela Rules. Prison authorities use restraints on imprisoned pregnant women, arbitrarily employ solitary confinement as a form of punishment, verbally abuse women in prison, deny incarcerated wome...
Many women imprisoned in Japan suffer serious human rights abuse and mistreatment. The Japanese government should urgently adopt reforms to improve prison conditions, decriminalize simple possession and use of drugs, and provide alternatives to imprisonment.