Japan's penal system advertises labour

Japan penal system advertises prison labour for companies in need of workers
at 5:07 on June 7, 2005, EST.

TOKYO (AP) - Need workers? Japan's penal system has the answer: prison labour.

The Justice Ministry began advertising its captive labour supply on its website this year in hopes of getting more company work orders as the prison population rises. The advertisement, started in March, praises the benefits of labour in prison, outlines the types of products available and provides links and phone numbers for companies to call.

"Making prisoners have a regular work life helps them maintain their mental and physical health, nurture a labour spirit, and promote a disciplined lifestyle," the website says.

Eight-hour workdays are part of nearly all prisoners' sentences in Japan, and the country's largest prisons can have dozens of factories making shoes, wooden toys and other goods.

But job orders are declining because of the weak economy and outsourcing of production abroad, dropping 40 per cent between 1998 and 2004 to 7.2 billion yen, or the equivalent of about $67.3 million US.

Meanwhile, the number of inmates sentenced to prison terms plus labour has surged 50 per cent over the same period, to 61,000 in 2004.

Shotaro Watanabe, an office at the Correction Bureau, said prison factories were also having troubles because the inmate population is aging and workers there are not as productive as they used to be.

"We have now more inmates who are old or with mental or physical problems, and they can only take simple jobs," said Watanabe.