When British incarceration inspection expert Hindpal Singh Bhui last month paid his first visit to a Japanese immigration detention center, his overriding initial impression was that it looked like a prison.
¡°The fact that if someone comes to visit detainees, the starting point is that you¡¯re behind a glass screen and you can¡¯t touch someone ¡ª that feels quite restrictive,¡± Bhui, team leader for London-based Her Majesty¡¯s Inspectorate of Prisons, told The Japan Times during a recent visit to Japan.
¡°It¡¯s something which perhaps is a prison-style approach and which was surprising to see in immigration detention centers,¡± Bhui said of his visit to the government facility in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture.
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