Twenty-two officers at Nagoya Prison repeatedly assaulted inmates from November last year to this August by spraying their faces with alcohol and hitting them on their buttocks with sandals, the Justice Ministry said Friday.
The three inmates who were separately assaulted at Nagoya Prison were men in their 40s to 60s, with the oldest suffering an injury near his left eyelid, according to the ministry. The ministry is considering working with prosecutors to build criminal cases against the officers accused of abuses, a source said Saturday.
Justice Minister Ken Saito apologized to the inmates during a news conference Friday, saying, "It is completely unacceptable and extremely regrettable that prison officers engaged in such acts."