Section 1  Imprisonment in Penal Institutions

1 Rate of imprisonment of penal institutions

  As of December 31, 2007, the imprisonment capacity of penal institutions was 85,214 including 67,996 for sentenced inmates, and the actual number of imprisoned inmates was 79,809 including 70,992 sentenced inmates.
  Fig. 2-4-1-1 shows the trends in the rate of imprisonment (the rate of imprisoned inmates against the imprisonment capacity) over the last 20 years.

Fig. 2-4-1-1  Trends in the rate of imprisonment of penal institutions (as of December 31 in each year in 1988–2007)

  As of December 31, 2007, among 75 (main) penal institutions, 48 institutions (64.0%) accommodate inmates exceeding their capacity (Source: The Correction Bureau, Ministry of Justice).
  The burden per penal institute official (obtained by dividing the average daily number of inmates in overall penal institutions by the overall fixed number of officials at the end of the relevant fiscal year) increased significantly from 3.04 in 1998 to 4.48 in 2006 and then remained at that high level with 4.43 in 2007. (Source: The Correction Bureau, Ministry of Justice).
  To alleviate the problem of overcrowding and to seek a new system of operating penal institutions, penal institutions utilizing the PFI (Private Finance Initiative) method (a new method of constructing, maintaining, and operating public facilities utilizing the funds and know-how of the private sector) are being developed based on the Act on Promotion of Private Finance Initiative (Act No. 117 of 1999), an act which was established with the purpose of developing social capital in an efficient and effective manner.
  As the first project utilizing PFI method the “Mine Rehabilitation Program Center” was constructed in Mine City in Yamaguchi Prefecture, which then started operating in April 2007 as the first penal institution operated through joint cooperation between the public and private sectors. The “Kitsuregawa Rehabilitation Program Center” (Sakura City, Tochigi Prefecture) and the “Harima Rehabilitation Program Center” (Kakogawa City, Hyogo Prefecture) then went into operation in October the same year and the “Shimane Asahi Rehabilitation Program Center” in October, 2008 (Source: The Correction Bureau, Ministry of Justice).