A prison in western Japan has introduced a unique rehabilitation program that helps inmates recognize the pain their crimes caused by facilitating a forum in which they can understand their victims' experiences.

Shimane Asahi Rehabilitation Program Center, a joint public-private operation, is the only prison in Japan to offer the program in which around 30 to 40 male inmates participate.

(Kaori Sakagami talks about her new film "Prison Circle" during an interview with Kyodo News in Tokyo on Nov. 26.)

To cast light on the project, Kaori Sakagami, an independent filmmaker, visited the center shortly after it was established in 2008 and was surprised to see the program, known as a "therapeutic community" or TC, yielding such positive results.

After spending around six years to win approval to film, she completed a 136-minute documentary named "Prison Circle" which closely followed the inmates involved for two years.

The film depicts inmates in the TC program regularly joining group sessions, aided by clinical psychotherapists and social workers, as they attempt to get to the root causes of their crimes while seeking to redirect their lives.

"In Japan, criminals are brought to trial, isolated in prisons, or executed, or released after serving jail terms," Sakagami said in a recent interview. "But I have been seeking other ways to show (they understand) there are other ways for rehabilitating them."

Among the TC participants is Masato, 24, who is serving an 8-year term for burglary, injury and theft. Raised in a difficult family environment, he has experienced flashbacks of violent incidents in which he was involved.

Speaking of his experiences during a session as a victim of abuse at home and as a violent perpetrator himself, he learned the flashbacks resulted from suppressing such feelings -- leaving him trapped in a "cycle of violence."

(Photo from "Prison Circle" shows inmates interact at Shimane Asahi Rehabilitation Program Center in western Japan.)
[Courtesy of Kaori Sakagami]

"I had been harmed due to violence, but I myself ended up doing the same thing to others," he said in the film. "I'm ashamed."

Talking to and being heard by those whom he could rely on, Masato felt remorse for his violent acts, including the abuse of his girlfriend.

"I bottled up my feelings and memories so my (shameful behavior) would not be revealed," he said. "I hope now I will be able to endure and accept my bitter past."

The film presents another inmate, Kentaro, 27, who is serving a 5-year term for injuring his uncle while invading his home to steal money.

He lost his job, friends and fiancee, who had an abortion, and remained reluctant to reflect on his crimes and think about those who he has hurt through his actions.

"I was too busy worrying about myself to think about the people around me," he said.

In a role-play, fellow prisoners posed questions and vented their anger while playing the role of his uncle, the victim of his crime, and his former fiancee, helping him come to terms with the pain he caused, even if indirectly.

"Why didn't you turn to me for advice if you didn't have money? It is more shameful to commit a robbery than becoming distressed over money," said an inmate playing his uncle.

"Do you understand my feelings at the time when I gave up our future and had the abortion?" the inmate playing his former fiancee asked.

"It was role-playing, but I felt as if the affected people were in front of me...I cannot forget the anguish they revealed," said Kentaro.

As shown in the film, some TC participants stay connected following their release.

Sitting in a circle with the program supporters as they did at the prison, the former inmates discuss their current jobs or desire to study in college, while encouraging those who face difficulties to stay on the straight and narrow.

Due to these efforts, the recidivism rate for those who have taken part in the TC program has dropped compared with those who have not, a report found.

Starting her career as a TV documentary director, Sakagami gained a reputation for her 1996 work covering a two-week trip taken by families of murder victims and death-row inmates.

She released her first film, "Lifers," in 2004, which focuses on inmates who support rehabilitation programs at a U.S. prison while serving life sentences.

Through her work, Sakagami has focused attention on "restorative justice," which aims to rehabilitate criminals through organizing meetings between the victim and offender, sometimes involving representatives from the broader community.

In the latest film, she stresses the TC program's objective of ending "the cycle of violence" through interactions among the inmates with others such as program supporters, rather than introducing tougher punishments.

[Courtesy of Kaori Sakagami]

"The role-playing involving Kentaro, for example, shows that even a constructed situation enables inmates to raise their awareness about how their problematic behavior affected people -- not only the victim but others such as Kentaro's former fiancee, and gain a foothold by exploring their selfish acts," she said.

"I expect more attention will be paid to restorative justice in Japan so victims of crime and their families can be invited to rehabilitation programs, as we see happening in the United States," she added.

Sakagami said that her interest in human rehabilitation reflects her own history, as she fell victim to violence at the hands of peer groups in her junior high school days and was strictly disciplined growing up.

"But I was a victimizer of my younger brother, who was more vulnerable than I...I was the embodiment of the cycle of violence, thus it is my lifework to think about how to break it," she said.

"Prison Circle" will be released at a movie theater in Tokyo's Shibuya area from Jan. 25 next year before its screening in other major cities, such as Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka.