The previously secret lives and unheard voices of
people on death
row
have been published by a group opposed
to capital
punishment at a time when members of the public may
soon be required to give the death
penalty under the lay judge system.
The group, Forum 90, sent questionnaires last year to 105 inmates
whose death sentences had been finalized, of whom 78 responded.
Extracts from their replies, expressing regret for their actions,
the agony they experience in their cells or their disappointment
with the judicial system, were initially presented at an annual
public gathering last October in Tokyo to mark the World Day
Against the Death
Penalty.
Forum 90 decided to compile the book, "Inochi no Hi wo Kesanaide"
("Please Do Not Extinguish the Spark of Life"), "so more and more
people will face the words of death-row inmates themselves," said
group member Taku Fukada.
"It has been almost 19 years since I was detained in this
four-tatami-mat-wide cell," a 41-year-old inmate at the Tokyo
Detention House says in the book.
As inmates are not told when they will be executed until the actual
day they will be hanged, the inmate said: "I feel scared every day,
while I remember the faces of the victims whenever I feel like
living. . . . They must have wanted to live much more than I do. .
. . I wish I could do something good before being hanged."
Seven of the respondents have been executed and two others died of
natural causes before the release of the book.
One of the executed inmates, who was accused of burning two women
to death in metal drums, noted, "I accept capital
punishment, but I cannot be satisfied with the
factual findings" of the courts, which he said were based on
falsified depositions compiled by investigators.
"I wish I could live a little bit longer until my two sons grow
more," he said Jan. 12. He was hanged 17 days later at the Nagoya
Detention House at the age of 44.
Referring to the day the inmate was executed, another inmate in
Nagoya said, "After I returned to my cell from exercise, he left
his room with detention officers, saying with a smile, 'I'm going
for exercise.'
"Several minutes later, other officers came to his cell and took
his belongings. . . . The cell was occupied the next day by another
person," he said. "Inmates have been hanged in a building where
many people lead their lives, but people are laughing as if nothing
happened . . . I have to say it's abnormal."
Fukada, who was involved in compiling the book as an editor at
Tokyo-based publisher Impact Shuppan-Kai, said: "Many inmates
responded as if they were writing their last wills. They must have
thought it was their last opportunity to reveal what they are
thinking."
On the publication, Makoto Teranaka, secretary general of Amnesty
International Japan, said, "Some people view death-row inmates as
homicidal maniacs, but this book shows they are as varied as we
are."
Under the lay judge system, six people randomly selected among
eligible voters will examine serious criminal cases, including
murder, together with three professional judges at district courts
and reach a verdict and hand down a sentence, possibly including
capital punishment.
With the introduction of the new system, people need to know what
death-row inmates think and how they live, Teranaka said.
The 140-page book is priced at ¥1,300 and is available in major
bookstores across the nation.