Testimony of Mr Pascal Bargigli
(Marseilles, France)
Concerning His Imprisonment in Japan
(Translated by William Skudlarek, O.S.B.)
I spent seven and a half years in a Japanese prison. With this account of what I personally saw and experienced and I wish to denounce what is happening there.
What goes on in Japanese prisons is inexcusable. Today there are hundreds of Foreign Nationals who are incarcerated in Japan, a country that does not respect basic human rights.
The Japanese penal system was modelled on French and English systems as they existed at the beginning of the 20th century. While the penal system in these countries has evolved, it has remained the same in Japan, where torture-moral rather than physical is still employed. When prisoners are released at the end of their sentence, they are broken men. Let me give you a few examples.
You are only allowed to speak when taking a walk, and half-hour walks are only allowed three times a week. Apart from those times speaking is forbidden . You are usually alone in your cell and are not allowed to walk in it , to lean against a wall, to wash your face at any other time than the morning, to look out of the window, to sing or whistle, to talk to yourself, or to lie down outside of the appointed times. Playing any kind of game is also forbidden except during appointed times.
In your work place you have to keep your eyes fixed on your hands, which have to be placed on your work bench. You cannot look right or to the left. You can only go to the toilet at appointed times.
When you move from place to place in the prison, you have to march in step. If you do not walk correctly during a recreational period, you have to spend the period marching around the courtyard.
There are all sorts of different rules for each moment of the day. If you do not obey them, you have to spend time in solitary confinement before your case is judged. Then you are sent to a special section to be disciplined.
In solitary the prisoner has to sit on the floor with his hands on his thighs and his eyes straight ahead> He has to remain in this position for eight to sixteen hours, with three ten minute breaks for tea and toilet. If he doesn’t obey the rules, he is sent to special solitary. There he is placed in a black cubicle with a low ceiling, one of his arms is tied in front of him with leather straps, the other behind . His trousers have a hole in cut in them so that he can go to toilet without using his arms. He is not allowed to wipe himself. When it’s time for meals, a guard feeds him with a spoon. Punishment in special solitary confinement can last for three days.
As for mail, at the beginning you are only allowed to write one letter per month to a member of your family. A person with whom you may have lived with for ten years but to whom you are not officially married is not considered family. After a certain period of time- calculated according to the length of your sentence - you can write two letters. When you have served half your sentence you’re allowed to write four letters a month- that is if you haven’t been sent to solitary. If you have, then your back to one letter a month.
The rule for visits is the same for mail - one visit s month, then two, then four. Visits are restricted to 10 minutes and take place in a room that is divided in two by a pane of Plexiglas. A guard is present and notes down everything you say. Visits can only be conducted in Japanese, English, Chinese or Spanish because there are no translators available for other languages.
Obviously you are never allowed to make a telephone call at any time during your incarceration.
You are not given enough to eat, and since you are not allowed to buy anything, you can only eat what is served. The portions are the same for all, no matter how large or small you are. If a guard sees you giving some leftovers to a friend, you will both be sent to solitary. You are not allowed to give anything to another prisoner.
With regard to judicial hearings and the time spent in detention while your case is being investigated and tried, translators are always provided, but often they are not very familiar with the language they are supposed to be translating. Court appointed lawyers are incompetent and often sleep during hearings. For example, if you spend a year in detention while your case is being considered and then are sentenced to five years in prison, you will in fact be incarcerated for five and a half years, since only half of the time you spent in detention will be subtracted from your sentence.
The detention centres in which you have to stay until you are sentenced have individual cells for all foreigners. You do not see or speak to anyone. Once you are sent to prison you are obliged to work. At the beginning you receive the equivalent of about three Euros per month. You receive a raise each month, and after two years you’re making about 90 Euros a month - the maximum salary. But to get to that level you can never have been in solitary; if you have been, your salary is decreased. Moreover, each time a guard has some issue with your behaviour, your salary is reduced ten percent as a punishment. I remember a prisoner who was caught washing his underwear in his cell because the laundry hadn’t done a good job. He was fined four Euros for this infraction.
The medical staff is incompetent. In 2002, 132 people died in Japanese prisons - where it’s almost impossible to commit suicide. People die in the prison infirmary or in a hospital, from cancer, tuberculosis or other illnesses.
Once you have completed your sentence you will be sent to an immigration detention centre - in effect, to another prison - if you do not have enough money to pay for your ticket home. Your stay there could last one or two years before the Japanese authorities furnish you with a return ticket.
This situation has to change. I promised my friends who are still in prison in Japan that I would denounce what is going on.
Fuchu Prison
Recently the TV station France 2 carried a program on the prison where I spent my last three and half years in Japan. The coverage was very complete and provided accurate information on the Japanese prison system. Nonetheless, I would like to clarify some points and, at the same time, complete the account I have already given.
First of all, something about Cyril, the Frenchman who was interviewed. The program was filmed about two years ago before he was released. When he got out, he weighed about 100 pounds. He suffered great psychological distress during his final months and would cry all night. It is important to state that before being interviewed, he was told by prison officials that if he said anything bad, he would not be paroled.
The program showed the prison’s individual cells, each with its bed and tiled floor. There are 234 such cells at Fuchu, but over 500 foreign nationals in the prison. The individual cells for the remainder of the foreigners are smaller and do not have a bed. In Japan the size of the room corresponds to the number of tatami mats that can be placed in it. The smaller individual cells are “four tatami” rooms, that is to say about four feet by seven feet. At the present time there are more than 3000 prisoners at Fuchu, and almost all the individual tatami cells have two people in them. At night, when you spread out your futon, there is no longer any room to move about the cell.
It should also be pointed out that on weekends and holidays and during the summer vacation and the New Year’s holiday - the latter two lasting up to 10 days- the inmates never leave their cells. Two people remain cooped up in a room that’s about 28 foot square.
On this program one could see TV sets turned on in the cells. In fact, in these individual cells the television is only turned on from six to eight on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and on Sunday from one to three in the afternoon and seven to eight fifteen in the evening. However, if a guard has recorded more than four infractions against and inmate, his television is disconnected for two weeks. For example, if a guard notices that an inmate is standing talking in his room, not standing in front of the sink while’s he’s brushing his teeth, lying on top of hid blanket rather than under it, has placed his pillow against the wall and his leaning on it while watching television , he has looked at him (the guard) in the eye, laughed out loud, is not sitting (there’s always a specific place to sit), etc… the guard makes a note in his book. When there are four notes, no more television.
I spent a little more than a year in this kind of cell and the television was disconnected for months. Each guard has his own way of interpreting the rules. For example, we were reprimanded for putting a blanket under a chess board that was on the floor, or for playing chess while seated on the futon, or for sitting on the futon before we had put on our pyjamas, etc.
The guards on our floor didn’t like foreigners. There were about three or four cells of foreigners on each floor. These guards kept patrolling in front of our doors until they came up with four infractions they could record in their notebooks.
During the last fifteen month of my incarceration I was able to work in the library. Only those inmates who could speak Japanese and other languages, and who had a record of good conduct were able to work there, because one of our jobs was to serve as translators for the new arrivals, especially for the “classes” which lasted two weeks. It was during these “classes” that one learned the rules of prison life. I think it would be helpful to describe in detail the ordeal that the new prisoners were subjected to during a week of such “classes”.
A guard who was rather short and who taught new inmates how to march, appeared on the Television program. One of the factories was also shown. It’d factory number 27, the factory in which “classes “ are taught . The guards name is Kato. I saw him pushing inmates around - usually Chinese, Koreans or other Asians. These foreigners receive no assistance from their embassies and are thus unable to lodge a complaint. In the same factory another guard, a sergeant and the head of the factory, was even harsher than Kato. He deals with the Japanese, while Kato deals with the foreigners. I saw this sergeant dragging along the ground some older Japanese prisoners who was not feeling well.
When prisoner arrive in Fuchu, he spends a month in isolation. Then, on Thursday morning (it’s always Thursday morning) Kato gathers them together in the library along with the translators for their “classes” before they are assigned to a factory. I served ad a translator for those who spoke French, English, or Thai. There were several of us that were able to be English translators and we alternated with one another. It was very difficult to spend a whole week in factory 27 because even if Kato had need of us and was nice to us, we still had to witness the suffering of the new arrivals.
Before leaving the building where they were kept in isolation and being taken to factory 27, the prisoners had to stand in line and listen to Kato’s first speech, which we translated simultaneously. “You have committed a crime. You are here to pay your debt to society. I am going to teach you the rules of this prison. During this week you are not allowed to speak. If I ask you a question, or if I ask you if you have a question to ask me, you have to then raise your hand and wait until I give you permission to ask your question of the translator”. Then he teaches them to march in step together we march down to Factory 27.
When we arrive at factory 27 the prisoners line up again and Kato explains how and when they are to stand at attention and at ease, and how they are to stand in formation. Then he explains that in each factory there are white lines painted on the floor and that they are never to step outside them. He also explains that when a guard calls a prisoner he is to shout “Hai” and to come to him in a strutting, fast-paced march step with fists closed and wrists on his pelvis. He is to stop at attention before the guard, bow, and then say his name and serial number.
He also explains how they are to eat, “You have ten minutes to eat, and during the meal it is strictly forbidden to speak or exchange food with another prisoner. You will receive a bowl of rice, a bowl of soup, and a couple of smaller dishes. You can put your rice in the soup, but you may not pour your soup into a rice bowl. When you are finished eating you are to put any leftovers in two containers, one for liquids, the other for solids. If you have any fruit peelings, they are to go in a separate container”.
Then he teaches them how to wash their feet and face after they finish work in the afternoon. “There is a wash basin for that and will be filled by the personnel in Factory 27. You are not allowed to touch the faucet. You can only have one basin of water. Before you begin to wash, you are to stand here in a straight line in front of the wash-stand and the five faucets. When I give the order, you are to put your flip-flops in a straight line in front of the carpet. You can roll your pants legs up to your knees. Then you must stand at attention and wait for my next order. When I give the order, you have exactly 20 seconds to wash up. You can wash your face- only your face, not your neck, your hair, or behind your ears - but you may not use soap . You can then wash your hands and feet with soap, but you cannot get any water above your wrists or ankles. You cannot put your feet in the basin because others are going to use it, so put your feet in the sink and pour the water over them. When the 20 seconds are up, you will immediately put your flip-flops back on, put your towel on the hanger in a straight line wit the other towels, and then you may go to the toilet. Those who don’t want to wash up are to stand at attention on the carpet in front of the washstand until the others have finished.
When he’s finished his speech Kato yells “Kagata” (understood), to which the inmates are to shout “Hai”. Of course Kato is not pleased and yells even louder “Kikuenai” ( I can’t hear you) and the inmates have to shout even louder, “Hai”. he will regularly pull up a inmate who isn’t shouting loud enough -usually the smallest or the most nerdy in the group - and pick on him for the rest of the week.
Every week there are about 5 to 6 foreigners who are subjected to this abuse in Factory 27. Each prisoner only experiences it at the beginning of his time in Fuchu, and I doubt that any of them remember everything about it. But I witnessed it about 20 times and I remember everything that was said and done. After this week the guards do nothing but scream at the new arrivals and push them around, insisting that they perform the same gestures and movements for the sole purpose of making them feel helpless and no longer in control of their lives.
Following this comes the lesson on changing clothes in the factory. There are two rooms in the changing area. It’s the same in all factories. When they arrive in the morning the inmates have to take off their clothes rapidly and place them correctly on the ledges. And then , completely naked, they stand in a line, even in the winter when it’s very cold, since there’s no heating in these rooms or anywhere else. Then each prisoner passes in front of the guard, stand at attention, and says his name and serial number. Then he has to extend his hands, tuning them up and down, Then, holding his arms up, he as to show the bottoms of his right foot and then the bottom of his left foot. He can then proceed to the other room to put on his work uniform and stand in line. The same thing happens in the evening - in reverse order, of course.
Then comes the lesson on how to sit at your work table. Each morning in all the factories the prisoners have to get in line and form ranks. The guard calls out “Attention” makes sure the lines are straight and then cries “Bango” (count). The prisoners then begin counting off (1.2.3...). There are two groups, the Japanese and the foreigners . The Japanese count off first, then the guard yells,” Gaijin bango” (foreigners count). When that’s finished the guard gives the order to salute him with a bow. Then he orders them to break rank and to stand at attention in front of their work tables. Then he yells, “Suwate” (sit down), and then “Boshi” (Hats). You then have to put on your hat, with the left hand at the back of it, and the right hand adjusting the visor. He then cries “Yoshi,” (good), and the prisoners have to place both hands on their thighs, with their legs together. Everyone has to do these movements together. If they’re not done together , you have to start all over.