The Nichibenren = Federation of Japan Bar Associations issued a "recommendation" to Nagoya Prison requesting improvements to Nagoya Prison, arguing that Nagoya Prison's failure to respond to inmates with mental disabilities according to the characteristics of their disabilities, such as avoiding communal living and group prison work, violates the law that requires reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities and constitutes a violation of human rights.
According to the JFBA, a former inmate in his 2019s with a mental disorder who had been serving time at Nagoya Prison since 30 asked the prison to treat him in consideration of the characteristics of his disability so as not to cause trouble with other inmates, but he was asked to live in a shared room with other inmates and to work in a group of prison work, and was punished for making the request.
JFBA judged that it violated the Act on the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities, which obliges administrative agencies to provide reasonable accommodation to persons with disabilities, and constituted a violation of human rights, and issued a "recommendation" to Nagoya Prison by the 15th requesting improvements.
They also made a "request" to the Ministry of Justice to provide necessary training.
In JFBA's human rights remedy petition system, "recommendation" is a measure next to "warning" and is not legally enforceable, but it can be requested for improvement.
This is the first time that a recommendation has been issued to a prison based on the Act on the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities, and Takanori Masuko, vice chairman of the JFBA, said, "Prisons are focusing on treating inmates uniformly, but they should be fully aware that they have a duty of care."
Nagoya Prison "Illegal or unfair response was not"
Nagoya Prison commented, "We believe that there was nothing illegal or unjust in our response, and we will continue to strive to treat detainees appropriately."