Legal Life inside Japan's largest female prison

[thomas]

Deutsche Welle took a look at Japan's largest prison for women, located in Tochigi . Around 450 inmates are currently serving sentences at Tochigi Women's Prison, an ageing correctional facility surrounded by rice fields and warehouses roughly 100 kilometres north of Tokyo. The prison is scheduled to close in 2028 because of deteriorating infrastructure and declining use. Officials said both staff and inmates would be transferred to one of nine other prisons elsewhere in the country.

Most prison sentences in Japan previously included an explicit obligation to work. Others could apply for jobs. This dual system was abolished in June 2025. In its place is a single form of incarceration that emphasises individualised treatment, rehabilitation and reintegration. It marks the first change to Japan's sentencing system in more than a century. Depending on the individual, work may now be combined with vocational training, addiction support, psychological counselling, and preparation for life after release. Makoto Tadaki, a professor of criminal law at Chuo University in Tokyo, said that eliminating the old division made it possible to combine work and guidance more flexibly and to create more time for other forms of treatment. The official reason for the reform was the high rate of recidivism — almost 50%.

Many inmates at Tochigi Women's Prison do not fit the typical profile of prisoners. While just under 40% are in good health, more than 60% have physical or mental impairments or are ill. Almost one in five women is over 70, and the oldest is 91. Some use wheelchairs and cannot access the communal bath unaided. Yet the facility employs only four nurses and two physiotherapists. A third of the inmates come from abroad — mostly from Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and China. Many were convicted of drug smuggling: Japan's drug laws are among the toughest in the world. Despite communication difficulties, only a few foreign inmates receive Japanese language lessons.

A look inside Japan's largest prison for women

Japan has recently carried out reforms to its prison system, but inside Tochigi, its biggest women's prison, strict discipline and tough conditions still define daily life.

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