A Prison Without Walls
A very special prison exists adjacent to the Shin Kurushima Dockyard in Ehime prefecture. It is a prison without walls, a normal-looking apartment building that houses just 31 prisoners. The prisoners participate in a program that trains them to become productive members of society by giving them real experience working at a shipyard. The clip below is a 15 minute ATV news report about the prison:
Competition is fierce for the limited number of spots in the program. As part of the entry process applicants must undergo 5 weeks of intensive training at a normal prison. To make sure that only well-disciplined prisoners are selected for the program, the training program includes lots of strict group drills and formation marching.
Learning a trade isn’t the only advantage of this program. Prisoners in the program are also eligible for early release. Whereas normal prisoners are usually only given parole after serving 80% of their sentences, these prisoners will be eligible for parole after serving 60%.
The reporter interview a 34-year-old prisoner about why he is applying for the program. He is in jail for a drug-related offense, serving a sentence of 2 years and 10 months. He says he is doing it so he can get return to his wife and children, who are having a difficult time without him. He hopes that he can stay away from drugs when he gets out of prison, but he lacks confidence. He hopes that the program will teach him the self-discipline that he’ll need to stay clean in the future.
The prisoner is interviewed by a panel of correctional officers and a shipyard official. He passes, along with the other 5 prisoners interviewed that day.
This shipyard training program has been going on for 50 years. Of the 3,500 prisoners who participated in the program, 2,500 have successfully completed the program without trouble.
(Note: This was only the first half of a two-part program. Although I have not found a copy of the second half, I figured the first half was interesting enough to post.)
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