The 1908 Prison Law was revised last year to improve protection of prisoners' human rights and enhance their social rehabilitation, ushering in a new era of reforms in the nation's prison system. A new type of prison is now under construction in Mine, Yamaguchi Prefecture. The Mine Social Rehabilitation Service Center, to open in April 2007, will be Japan's first prison built under Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) -- a scheme to build social infrastructure utilizing the private sector's funds and expertise. Such an idea was first introduced by the British government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1992. Most of the work in the Mine center, such as security and vocational training of inmates, will be done by private-sector workers. Other duties, however, will remain strictly in the hands of government employees.

The establishment of such a center is based on the philosophy of delegating as much government work as possible to the private sector, thereby decreasing the government's financial burden. In running the center, a line needs to be drawn between the work that should be done by government employees and that which can be carried out by private-sector workers. Prisons primarily are facilities that must be run under government authority. In areas that involve the exercise of government authority, careful consideration must precede any decision to delegate work to the private sector.

More than 50 local governments have expressed their hope to host a prison under the PFI scheme as a means of revitalizing their economies. In December 2005, the central government accepted a plan submitted by the Yamaguchi prefectural government and the Mine city government to build such a prison in Mine. A second such prison is planned in Hamada, Shimane Prefecture. But the opening of the Hamada facility has been postponed from April 2008 to October that year because companies in two consortiums that took part in the bidding were indicted in connection with a bid-rigging scandal involving Defense Facilities Agency officials.