Day 7 features Hitoshi Iwasa, Former Prison Officer, who served at Nara Juvenile Prison for over 20 years.
During my 20-plus years as a prison officer (guard) at Nara Juvenile Prison, club activities for inmates were very active. Sports included baseball, soccer, and table tennis, with occasional matches against local community members. Once, near Nara Station, someone called out to me, “Teacher!” It was a former inmate I had taught in table tennis, now released. It made me quite happy. A prison is a place where people who happened to become offenders reside, and those living there are human beings just like us. By visiting the Prison Museum, I hope people can set aside preconceptions of it being a scary or dirty place and understand through their own eyes what the actual facility was like and how it was operated.
Hitoshi Iwasa served as a prison officer at Nara Juvenile Prison for a total of 21 years between 1983 and 2019 (with periods of transfer to Osaka Prison and other facilities). After retiring, he has been involved as a guide for Nara Prison tours organized by travel agencies, sharing his firsthand experiences with visitors. At Nara Juvenile Prison, approximately 200 staff members were stationed on-site, with about 100 of them dedicated to security and guard duties.
Follow the series on Instagram: “The Exquisite Prison and the 30”
