Prison life: Justice in Japan (2020)

• 64%
• 2020
• Documentary
• Marie Linton

Last year Carlos Ghosn publicly condemned the "unjust" judicial system and the "inhumane" penitentiary system in Japan which the former CEO of Renault-Nissan experienced recently. We gained unprecedented filming access to two Japanese prisons to find out whether these accusations were founded. What we witnessed was staggering. Inmates must march to their worksites attached by a cord; they are not allowed to look the guards in the eye; outside of scheduled leisure hours, they must maintain absolute silence, unless they have obtained prior permission to speak. The treatment of suspects in custody pushes many to confess to crimes which they did not commit, as was the case with one man who spent 46 years on death row. He was finally exonerated six years ago, but was left broken. We try to explain why a country which operates on strict principles of balance and order might choose such a repressive system, and see if this may explain Japan having one of the lowest crime rates in the world.