Japan's first privately built prison has begun accepting inmates as the nation desperately seeks to relieve overcrowding behind bars, officials have said.
The prison has hundreds of single rooms, each equipped with a bed, TV and safe. It has career programs, and there is no barbed wire — making it luxurious in comparison with other Japanese prisons.

The prison officially opened May 13 in the town of Mine in Yamaguchi Prefecture. It will only accept up to 1,000 first-time prisoners, men and women, who are serving terms of 8 years or shorter.
The new prison, called the Mine Social Reintegration Promotion Center, uses orange or green uniforms instead of the standard gray, pajamalike suits used elsewhere.

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