Japan’s move to ban crude words to transform prison system dismissed as ‘trivial’, ‘a joke’

A move by Japan to abolish prison slang among guards and inmates to encourage rehabilitation has been criticised by activists as “largely cosmetic” and ineffective in addressing deep-rooted issues within the country’s notoriously harsh detention system.

Authorities have instructed correctional officers to refer to prisoners with the honorific “san”, which translates as “honourable mister”, in a shift in focus on incarceration and punishment to preparing inmates for a return to society and helping them to become law-abiding members of the public.

The changes were outlined by Justice Minister Ryuji Koizumi on February 22 and will come ahead of amendments to Japan’s criminal law.

Koizumi said at a news conference in Tokyo: “The human heart is connected to words. If words become distorted, it can lead to abusive acts.”

While human rights activists have said the change is positive, they point to it being “largely cosmetic” and doing nothing to address underlying problems that continue to plague the prison service, such as violent treatment from guards and whether incarceration is even needed for petty crimes.

They argued, for example, that even though Japan is a signatory to the United Nations’ Nelson Mandela Rules – which state: “In no circumstances may restrictions or disciplinary sanctions amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of punishment” – Japanese prisons had been shown to breach the limit of 15 days in solitary confinement.

Shinichi Ishizuka, founder of the Tokyo-based Criminal Justice Future think tank, said changes were required to make life on the inside easier for inmates, but that he wasn’t convinced the minister’s demand for greater politeness was the solution.

“I was in Nagoya Prison a few