{"id":13885,"date":"2016-03-16T17:51:04","date_gmt":"2016-03-17T03:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13885"},"modified":"2016-03-17T10:52:32","modified_gmt":"2016-03-17T20:52:32","slug":"reuters-death-toll-mounts-in-japanese-detention-centers-aka-gaijin-tanks-as-nj-seek-asylum-and-are-indefinitely-detained-and-drugged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13885","title":{"rendered":"Reuters: Death toll mounts in Japanese Detention Centers (aka “Gaijin Tanks”) as NJ seek asylum and are indefinitely detained and drugged"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog. \u00a0Here’s another one of Reuters’ in-depth reports (I say “another” because they did an excellent on Japan’s “Trainee” Visa system as “sweatshops in disguise” back in 2014<\/a>) on Japan’s deadly Detention Centers, aka Gaijin Tanks, where people wait indefinitely<\/a> for refugee status or deportation (and, according to Amnesty International, are subjected to extortion and physical abuse<\/a>, because Gaijin Tanks are not officially “prisons”, and are not subject to the same incarceration oversight that actual Japanese prisons get<\/a>). \u00a0So what happens? \u00a0People die. \u00a0Reuters below\u00a0has done some investigative journalism that\u00a0more news agencies should be doing. \u00a0Be sure to visit the link to the Reuters site as well in order to see some good stats in graphic form, not to mention related articles. \u00a0Dr. ARUDOU, Debito<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

Death in Detention<\/strong>
\n Grim toll mounts in Japanese detention centers as foreigners seek asylum<\/strong>
\n By Thomas Wilson, Mari Saito, Minami Funakoshi and Ami Miyazaki<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reuters, Filed March 8, 2016, 2:45 p.m. GMT \u00a0Courtesy of JH.<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/investigates\/special-report\/japan-detention\/<\/a>
\nPhoto Caption: \u00a0Niculas Fernando was in Tokyo to see his son and sit out potentially violent elections at home. The Sri Lankan\u2019s death, in a cell monitored around the clock, reveals fatal flaws in a system stretched by record numbers of asylum seekers.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u65e5\u672c\u8a9e\u7248 (Read in Japanese)<\/a><\/p>\n

TOKYO \u2013 Niculas Fernando died at a Tokyo immigration detention center sometime between 9:33 a.m. and 10:44 a.m. on November 22, 2014, according to the coroner.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t until shortly after 1 p.m. that day that guards realized something was badly wrong \u2013 even though Fernando had been moved to an observation cell monitored via closed-circuit television after complaining of sharp chest pain.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

An inmate had to alert the guards before they rushed into Fernando\u2019s cell and tried to revive him. They found him lying face down on a mattress stained with his urine. He was lifeless.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A devout Catholic from Sri Lanka, Fernando had come to visit his son, who lives in a Tokyo suburb where he works in a restaurant kitchen. He was the fourth person to die in Japan\u2019s immigration detention system in 13 months. In total, 12 people have died in immigration detention since 2006, including four suicides. In 2015, 14 detainees tried to kill or harm themselves at the detention center where Fernando died, according to data from the facility.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A Reuters investigation into the circumstances surrounding Fernando\u2019s death, including dozens of interviews with detainees, immigration officials and doctors, revealed serious deficiencies in the medical treatment and monitoring of Japan\u2019s immigration detention centers. Guards with scant medical training make critical decisions about detainees\u2019 health. Doctors visit some of the country\u2019s main detention centers as infrequently as twice a week. And on weekends there are no medical professionals on duty at any of the immigration detention facilities, which held more than 13,600 people in 2014.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

RELATED CONTENT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Slideshow: Inside Japan\u2019s immigration lock-up<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Video: Japan\u2019s refugee crisis<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Foreign workers power Subaru\u2019s U.S. boom<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Three of the four deaths in detention between October 2013 and November 2014, including Fernando\u2019s, occurred when there were no doctors on duty. Like Fernando, another one of the detainees died while in an observation cell.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s immigration system is under increasing strain. As a torrent of refugees pours into Europe, Japan also has record numbers of people landing on its shores in search of refuge. As of June last year, it had 10,830 asylum applications under review \u2013 small by Europe\u2019s standards, but a new high for Japan, a nation that has long been reluctant to take in outsiders.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In February, more than 40 detainees went on hunger strike at a facility in Osaka to protest their conditions<\/em><\/strong> [As they did in 2010<\/a>, to little change<\/a> — Ed.]. Their main complaint: Poor medical care.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The system\u2019s oversight, too, is limited. Members of the watchdog body tasked with monitoring Japan\u2019s 17 detention centers are appointed by the justice minister, who oversees the detention system. The findings of the watchdog are edited by the Justice Ministry before being made public, and the ministry has failed to act on repeated recommendations for improving medical care, say its members.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to shout at them when I heard that guards left him alone for such a long time,\u201d said Tooru Tsunoda, a doctor and vice chairman of the watchdog body that monitors the center where Fernando died. A report by the oversight group said guards \u201cmisjudged the seriousness\u201d of Fernando\u2019s condition. By not sending him to hospital immediately, the report found, they \u201cmissed opportunities to avoid his death.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Report by immigration detention watchdog body on Niculas Fernando\u2019s death<\/em><\/strong>
\n Justice Minister Mitsuhide Iwaki said the reports he received showed that in all four deaths, \u201cappropriate medical steps\u201d had been taken. \u201cI do not acknowledge there were problems in the responses or the medical care provided.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fernando, who ran a travel agency back in Sri Lanka specializing in pilgrimages, hadn\u2019t seen his son George for eight months when he reached Japan. Before he left home, he visited the many churches in his coastal hometown of Chilaw and \u201cprayed for 24 hours,\u201d said his wife, Magret.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A framed picture of Fernando sits on a table in the home where he and Magret lived from the time they wed in 1983. They had fallen in love and married within a month, even though Fernando\u2019s family had initially opposed the union because Magret was nine years his elder.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The day before he died, Fernando called Magret from a payphone for inmates in the detention center. \u201cHe was not ill,\u201d she said.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sitting on a sofa and weeping quietly, she recalled Fernando\u2019s last words before boarding the plane for Japan: \u201cI\u2019ll come back. Look after the children.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

He never returned. In fact, Fernando never made it through immigration at Tokyo\u2019s Haneda Airport.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

George and his wife waited in the arrival hall for Fernando after his plane landed at around 11 p.m. on Nov. 12. At 2 a.m. they learned Fernando had been detained by immigration officials who did not believe he was a genuine tourist.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe would have loved to hear our father\u2019s voice, but they didn\u2019t give him the chance to talk to us,\u201d said George, 27, speaking in Sinhalese through an interpreter at his apartment.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Two days later, George got to see his father. They met in a small room at Haneda Airport, separated by a glass partition.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t touch or hug,\u201d said George.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

George and his two brothers portray their father as a devoted family man who prayed daily, never drank and often took his family with him on work trips around Sri Lanka and India.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d pray for at least an hour every morning, bowing down,\u201d said his eldest son, Jerad, standing outside the home of a relative in a village near Chilaw. \u201cHis knees were black from the marks made from praying.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

One family photo shows Fernando playing a guitar as Catholic pilgrims dance behind him during a 2012 tour of churches in the north of Sri Lanka. George recalls his father joining a peace mission to a Tamil Tiger-controlled area in the late 1990s led by Bishop Malcolm Ranjith during Sri Lanka\u2019s civil war.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fernando \u201cvoluntarily joined our group and went as part of our pilgrimage,\u201d Ranjith, who is now archbishop of Colombo, told Reuters. He described Fernando as \u201ca very pious person.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fernando also was active in one of Sri Lanka\u2019s main political parties, and that background may be key to understanding a surprising decision he made during his detention – to ask for asylum.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

George said his father was a supporter of the United National Party (UNP), which now heads the ruling coalition in Sri Lanka, and had been the target of political violence in the past. With speculation growing that national elections were imminent, Fernando timed his visit to Japan so he could sit out the vote and escape any potential violence, George said.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But facing deportation after his arrest at Haneda Airport, Fernando decided to seek asylum, which would have allowed him to stay in Japan while his request was processed. He was going to return home once any election-related violence had subsided, his son said.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Elections in Sri Lanka were formally announced on Nov. 20. Fernando died two days later, before he could file the asylum papers, George said.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

George and his Sri Lankan wife have been seeking asylum themselves in Japan for almost two years. A copy of his application says George faced death threats from political rivals when he worked for the UNP, which was in opposition at the time he sought asylum.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Asylum applications have jumped more than six-fold since Japan altered its immigration rules in 2010. The change allowed asylum seekers to obtain six-month renewable work permits while their applications are reviewed. But Japan is sparing when it comes to granting asylum: Only 27 people were approved in 2015.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The rule change, combined with Japan\u2019s chronic labor shortage and strict immigration policy, has spawned a system of backdoor immigration, as Reuters illustrated last year in an article detailing Subaru\u2019s heavy reliance on asylum seekers who toil in the factories that supply it with car parts<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Five days after arriving, Fernando was transported from a lock-up at the airport to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, a tower block overlooking the docks and a waste-incineration plant. A one-stop shop for visa renewals, asylum interviews and deportation orders, the complex also serves as a detention center for up to 800 people.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fernando was placed in a cell in G-Block with two other detainees, from China and Peru. Fellow detainees described him as a serious man obsessed with cleanliness.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On the Saturday morning Fernando died, James Burke, a Canadian in the adjacent cell, was awakened by the Sri Lankan\u2019s cries. It was around 7 a.m. Noise travels easily on the block and Fernando was in obvious pain, Burke said. \u201cHe was moaning and moaning and moaning.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fernando\u2019s Peruvian cellmate called the guards and told them the Sri Lankan wanted to go to the hospital because his chest was hurting. The guards refused, saying the hospitals were closed on Saturdays, according to Burke and two other detainees who witnessed the events and asked not to be named.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

At least two hospitals within a few miles of the detention center are open around the clock on weekends, including Saiseikai Central Hospital, where Fernando\u2019s body would be taken later that day. Naoaki Torisu, a senior Justice Ministry official who oversees immigration detention, declined to comment on what specifically the guards told Fernando.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHis symptoms didn\u2019t seem that serious,\u201d Torisu said. \u201cIf his condition had worsened, we would have called an ambulance or taken him to hospital without hesitation.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

At 7:30 a.m., guards measured Fernando\u2019s pulse and blood pressure, according to an internal report by the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau that was reviewed by Reuters. They found no abnormality, Torisu said.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But Fernando soon called for the guards again, this time more loudly. \u201cHe\u2019s in real discomfort,\u201d recalled Burke, who was being held at the time for overstaying his visa and is now on provisional release from immigration detention. \u201cHe was begging them, \u2018I\u2019m a Christian and I wouldn\u2019t lie. I need to go to hospital or I\u2019m going to die.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Just before 8 a.m., guards led Fernando to a room to check his condition. A report by the national Immigration Bureau, which is part of the Justice Ministry, said the guards \u201ccould not grasp the seriousness\u201d of the situation because another Sri Lankan detainee who was acting as an interpreter did not translate Fernando\u2019s words accurately. But the Justice Ministry\u2019s Torisu told Reuters the guards did understand what Fernando was saying.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

When the Sri Lankan returned to his cell a short while later, he looked relieved, said Burke. He gathered his Bible and clothes. \u201cYou could see it in his face \u2013 he was getting his stuff, thinking he would get help.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But Fernando wasn\u2019t taken to hospital. At 8:16 a.m., guards moved him to an observation cell fitted with closed-circuit television for around-the-clock surveillance of detainees who are ill, unruly or have tried to harm themselves.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Around 9 a.m. Fernando again called the guards from the cell. They told him to wait until the morning roll call was over, said Burke and two other detainees.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

At 9:22 a.m., Fernando washed his hands and appeared to vomit. He then lay face down on a futon, according to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau report on his death. At 9:33 a.m., he stopped moving.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A few minutes later, a guard brought a television to Fernando\u2019s cell. He called out but Fernando didn\u2019t respond. Thinking the Sri Lankan was asleep, the guard didn\u2019t check to see if he was all right, the report said. For the same reason, guards did not check Fernando for the next several hours.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Immediately after cell doors opened at 1 p.m. to allow detainees out for the afternoon break, the Sri Lankan who had interpreted for Fernando hurried to the observation cell. Fernando\u2019s breakfast \u2013 the standard white bread, jam and boiled egg \u2013 lay untouched. Fernando wasn\u2019t moving. His body was cold.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Alerted by the detainees, guards rushed into the observation cell. It was 1:03 p.m. \u2013 three and a half hours since Fernando had last shown any signs of life.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A guard performed CPR on Fernando, but it was too late.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

An ambulance was called and his body was carried out of G-Block on a stretcher, his face uncovered, two detainees said. Two hours later, he was pronounced dead. He was 57 years old.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Koichi Uemura, a coroner asked by the national Immigration Bureau to write an in-depth autopsy report on Fernando\u2019s death, told Reuters he was allowed to view the video footage of the Sri Lankan in the observation cell. He said it was possible to tell from the images that Fernando was struggling and moaning before he lay down in the cell.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Uemura said he was asked to compile a report after the Immigration Bureau had investigated Fernando\u2019s death and found that \u201cthere was quite a high possibility that (the detention center) did not provide adequate medical care, and that his illness got worse because he was left unattended.\u201d A doctor at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University who performs autopsies for the police and courts, Uemura stopped short of saying that Fernando\u2019s death could have been avoided if guards had taken him to hospital.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Justice Ministry rejected a public disclosure request by Reuters to view the video footage of the observation cell, citing privacy reasons.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Since 2010, the Immigration Detention Facilities Visiting Committee \u2013 the watchdog body \u2013 has repeatedly called for improvements to medical care at detention facilities. Six current and former members of the 20-person oversight body told Reuters that key recommendations have not been implemented.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Inmates voice a similar grievance. In two handwritten letters, the hunger strikers at the detention center in Osaka complained about limited access to doctors and said guards without medical training were making judgment calls about the health of detainees.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Their protest didn\u2019t impress the authorities. Tomohisa Takayama, a spokesman for the Osaka Regional Immigration Bureau, said there was no \u201crational reason\u201d for the complaints, and that the hunger strike ended after five days.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In May, a former member of the watchdog wrote to then-Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa calling for full-time doctors at detention facilities, better monitoring of detainees who are unwell and improved psychiatric care.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But the watchdog lacks teeth. It doesn\u2019t perform surprise inspections. Its visits to detention centers are pre-arranged, and its members are escorted by immigration officials.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

There has been little change since the deaths. Guards have been given \u201cfresh instructions to call ambulances\u201d in situations where they are having trouble \u201cmaking judgments,\u201d said the Justice Ministry\u2019s Torisu. And two guards are being trained as assistant nurses in the entire detention system, which on Nov. 1 last year was holding 1,070 inmates.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It is \u201cprobably insufficient\u201d that there are no doctors on duty at weekends, but that doesn\u2019t mean medical care is lax, said Torisu.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On Nov. 22, the day Fernando died, George got a call from a family friend. \u201cHe asked me to calm down, to sit down,\u201d George recalled, his eyes filling with tears. \u201cHe told us my father had passed away\u2026 I asked God why he took my father.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The next day, George tracked Fernando\u2019s body to a police station near the detention center. Officers there tried to stop him from opening the white body bag that contained his father\u2019s body.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

OBSCURED: Large sections of an official report on Niculas Fernando\u2019s death that was released to Reuters were redacted. Click here to view the report. Source: Justice Ministry, Japan<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBut I opened the bag,\u201d he said. \u201cI asked them if they were investigating my father\u2019s death. They said they were, and when they had the report they\u2019d tell me.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

George has never received any of the reports on his father\u2019s death. On Dec. 19, almost a month after he lost his father, George received the death certificate. It didn\u2019t contain the answer he\u2019d been seeking: Cause \u201cunknown,\u201d it said.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

That same day, Fernando was cremated about three miles from the detention center where he died. His family had hoped for a Catholic burial in Chilaw, but could not afford to fly his body home. His third son, Jude, who traveled to Japan for the funeral, is also now seeking asylum.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It would be another three months before Fernando\u2019s family learned from Sri Lanka\u2019s Foreign Ministry that he had died of a heart attack.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI can’t believe that I lost my father,\u201d said George. \u201cJapan\u2019s immigration authorities must take responsibility for my father’s death.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Justice Ministry has not made public the findings of the investigation into the case nor released them to Fernando\u2019s family.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In response to a public disclosure request, Reuters received a copy of the national Immigration Bureau\u2019s report from March last year. It was heavily redacted. Under a section titled \u201cProblems,\u201d every line had been blacked out.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

===================================<\/p>\n

SUB-ARTICLE<\/p>\n

Death, drugs and detention<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Minami Funakoshi, Thomas Wilson, Ami Miyazaki and Mari Saito<\/strong>
\nIn the 13 months before Niculas Fernando died in a Japanese immigration detention center in 2014, three other men suffered the same fate.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Anwar Hussin, 57, a Rohingya from Myanmar, died on Oct. 14, 2013, after suffering a stroke while being held at the same detention center as Fernando.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Saeid Ghadimi, a 33-year-old Iranian, choked on food and died on March 29, 2014, at the East Japan Immigration Center in Ibaraki prefecture, a sprawling complex set among rice paddies northeast of Tokyo.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Flaubert Lea Wandji, a 43-year-old Cameroonian, died at the same center the next day, most likely due to acute heart failure.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The names of Ghadimi and Wandji, and many of the details of their deaths, have not been previously reported.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Like Fernando, Wandji died after being moved to an observation cell so his condition could be monitored. But the guards failed to grasp the need to take Wandji to hospital, the watchdog committee that monitors Japan\u2019s detention centers said in a report last March to the national Immigration Bureau, which is part of the Justice Ministry. The report was reviewed by Reuters.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

NO PROBLEMS: Justice Minister Mitsuhide Iwaki said \u2018appropriate medical steps\u2019 were taken in the case of all four men who died in immigration detention in the space of 13 months. REUTERS\/Issei Kato\/Files<\/strong><\/p>\n

The watchdog report drew attention to what it said was the heavy prescription of drugs to detainees. At the time he died, Ghadimi had been prescribed 15 different drugs, including four painkillers, five sedatives \u2013 one a Japanese version of the tranquilizer Xanax \u2013 and two kinds of sleeping pills, the report said. At one point during his incarceration, he was on a cocktail of 25 different pills.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not an exaggeration to say he was in a so-called \u2018drugged-up state,\u2019\u201d Teruichi Shimomitsu, a doctor and retired member of the watchdog body, wrote in a letter last May to then-Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Naoaki Torisu, a senior Justice Ministry official responsible for overseeing immigration detention centers, said parts of the committee\u2019s report were \u201cunclear.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDetainees take pills prescribed according to their medical needs,\u201d he told Reuters. \u201cI cannot grasp the exact intent behind the committee\u2019s statement.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Two psychiatrists cited in a November 2014 national Immigration Bureau report said the Iranian\u2019s medications did not cause him to choke.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The prescription of sedatives and antidepressants is common in Japan\u2019s detention centers, say doctors and detainees. Some inmates told Reuters they were given sedatives after arguing with guards or other detainees. Others said they became dependent on the drugs as they faced indefinite detention.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Checks are needed to ensure doctors do not prescribe \u201cmassive amounts\u201d of sedatives to keep \u201crebellious\u201d detainees quiet, Shimomitsu wrote in his letter to then-Justice Minister Kamikawa.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Justice Ministry\u2019s Torisu disputed that sedatives were used to pacify troublesome detainees. \u201cPsychiatrists prescribe them because they are deemed medically necessary,\u201d he said.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n

Do you like what you read on Debito.org? \u00a0Want to help keep the archive active and support Debito.org’s activities? \u00a0We are celebrating Debito.org’s 20th Anniversary in 2016, so please consider donating a little something. \u00a0More details here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reuters : Niculas Fernando died at a Tokyo immigration detention center sometime between 9:33 a.m. and 10:44 a.m. on November 22, 2014, according to the coroner. But it wasn\u2019t until shortly after 1 p.m. that day that guards realized something was badly wrong \u2013 even though Fernando had been moved to an observation cell monitored via closed-circuit television after complaining of sharp chest pain. An inmate had to alert the guards before they rushed into Fernando\u2019s cell and tried to revive him. […] He was the fourth person to die in Japan\u2019s immigration detention system in 13 months. In total, 12 people have died in immigration detention since 2006, including four suicides. In 2015, 14 detainees tried to kill or harm themselves at the detention center where Fernando died, according to data from the facility.<\/p>\n

A Reuters investigation into the circumstances surrounding Fernando\u2019s death, including dozens of interviews with detainees, immigration officials and doctors, revealed serious deficiencies in the medical treatment and monitoring of Japan\u2019s immigration detention centers. Guards with scant medical training make critical decisions about detainees\u2019 health. Doctors visit some of the country\u2019s main detention centers as infrequently as twice a week. And on weekends there are no medical professionals on duty at any of the immigration detention facilities, which held more than 13,600 people in 2014. Three of the four deaths in detention between October 2013 and November 2014, including Fernando\u2019s, occurred when there were no doctors on duty. Like Fernando, another one of the detainees died while in an observation cell.<\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s immigration system is under increasing strain. As a torrent of refugees pours into Europe, Japan also has record numbers of people landing on its shores in search of refuge. As of June last year, it had 10,830 asylum applications under review \u2013 small by Europe\u2019s standards, but a new high for Japan, a nation that has long been reluctant to take in outsiders. In February, more than 40 detainees went on hunger strike at a facility in Osaka to protest their conditions [As they did in 2010, to little change — Ed.]. Their main complaint: Poor medical care. […]<\/p>\n

The Justice Ministry has not made public the findings of the investigation into the case nor released them to Fernando\u2019s family. In response to a public disclosure request, Reuters received a copy of the national Immigration Bureau\u2019s report from March last year. It was heavily redacted. Under a section titled \u201cProblems,\u201d every line had been blacked out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,34,5,12,4,10,11,66,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-embedded-racism","category-exclusionism","category-human-rights","category-immigration-assimilation","category-japanese-government","category-japanese-policeforeign-crime","category-problematic-foreign-treatment","category-refugees","category-8"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13885\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}