Forced head shave for transgender inmate a human rights violation: Osaka lawyers

OSAKA — A group of lawyers has submitted a recommendation asking the Japanese government to stop imposing haircuts on prisoners after a transgender woman in her 50s was forced to have her head shaved as an inmate, it was announced here on March 11.

The Osaka Bar Association addressed the letter dated March 8 to Justice Minister Ryuji Koizumi. According to the bar, the inmate has undergone breast augmentation and testicle removal surgeries and identifies as a female although she is considered male in the family register. When she was at the Osaka Prison in the city of Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, in April 2018, she was forced to have her head shaved after being told to shorten her hair.

The justice ministry has guidelines for inmates’ hair length, establishing either 2 millimeters or 1.6 centimeters for males and stating that females’ hair should be neat and clean without being flamboyant.

The recommendation points out that, “Allowing male inmates the same degree of freedom of hairstyle as women is not deemed to interfere with the maintenance of discipline and order in penal institutions.”

It asks for a revision of the guidelines, affirming that hairstyles are one of the rights of self-determination guaranteed by the Japanese Constitution and that forcing a male hairstyle on the inmate in question caused a large amount of psychological pain and humiliation. However, the recommendation has no legal binding power.

(Japanese original by Shunsuke Takara, Osaka City News Department)