Facility outline
Background of establishment
One of the reasons for the establishment of the Kitsuregawa Rehabilitation Program Center is recent prison overcrowding. Overcrowding causes various problems such as increased troubles among inmates due to reduced living spaces. As countermeasure the Ministry of Justice build additional buildings to accommodate increasing inmates in the premises of existing prisons, but it is now difficult to do so, therefore as an emergency countermeasure, it has become necessary to build new institutions.
On the site where the center locates, there used to be the Kitsuregawa Branch Prison, which was a branch of the Kurobane Prison and was known as the Kitsuregawa Agricultural and Civil Engineering School by the local citizens. The branch prison provided rehabilitation programs inmates who could be treated outdoors with agricultural, horticultural and other professional training as well as opportunities to learn practical skills, for example, acquiring a driving license for large construction equipment, but due to a decrease of inmates eligible for such services, in 1999 the facility was discontinued.
| Site area | 425,891m² (Approximately 9 times the size of Tokyo Dome) | |
|---|---|---|
| Floor area | 8,333m² | |
| Number of inmates | 2,000 (including 250 with mental disabilities and 250 with physical disabilities) | |
| Type of inmates | Maｌe inmates with no - advanced criminal tendency | |
The Ministry of Justice was looking for a location suitable for a new prison as a countermeasure to alleviate prison overcrowding and decided to build a new prison on this nature-rich location while for facility management, using the private finance initiative (PFI) in consideration of the severe administrative and financial constraints; thus, the first PFI prison in eastern Japan, the “Kitsuregawa Rehabilitation Program Center” opened jointly run by the public and private sectors.
SPC is the acronym of "Special Purpose Company." To operate the Center, the SPC, "Social Rehabilitation Support Kitsuregawa Co., Ltd." was established based on investments made by the companies constituting the Kitsuregawa Secom Group, which were successful in bidding for the project.
Access to the Kitsuregawa Rehabilitation Program Center
| Institution name | Kitsuregawa Rehabilitation Program Center | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | 5547 Kitsuregawa, Sakura, 329-1493 Tochigi, Japan TEL: +81-28-686-3111 FAX: +81-28-686-5656 | |
| Transportation | Train&Bus: | JR Tohoku Main Line "Ujiie", by city bus "Kitsuregawa-Center-mae" getting off, foot approximately 10 minutes |
| Train&Taxi: | JR Tohoku Main Line "Ujiie", by taxi, approximately 20 minutes | |
| Car: | Route 293 | |
City of Sakura
The city is located in central Tochigi prefecture. In 2005, the towns of Ujiie and Kitsuregawa joined together to form a new city. The name of the city is derived from cherry trees (Sakura), that have long been popular among the citizens who enjoy the blossoms in the remains of Katsuyama Castle and on the embankments of Kinugawa at Ujiie, as well as the rows of cherry trees along the Sakuyama-Kitsuregawa Prefecture Road and at Omaruyama park. The city name is spelled in hiragana characters, instead of the usual Chinese characters, giving a softer impression and representing the town folks' commitment to establishing together a new "community" as beautiful as cherry blossoms.
