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Faculty of Law students and alumni volunteers visited the Harima Social Reintegration Promotion Center at theHachioji Campus

On August 31, 2026 (Monday), a group of students and alumni from Teikyo University's Faculty of Law visited the Harima Social Reintegration Promotion Center (Kakogawa City, Hyogo Prefecture). As part of its efforts to support students' proactive learning, the Faculty regularly conducts visits to correctional facilities by volunteers from the first to fourth years of Department of Law and Department of Political Science. The Harima Social Reintegration Promotion Center is one of the few "public-private partnership prisons" in Japan where employees of private companies are involved in the operation of the facility. This visit was made possible thanks to the tremendous efforts of the center's investigators and prison officers, despite the center being located far from the university.

During this tour, students received explanations from prison officers about the facility's overview, correctional education, and support for social reintegration. They also had the opportunity to sample the meals provided to inmates. While other correctional facility tours offer opportunities to see the meals, it is rare to have the chance to taste the same menu as the inmates. Through learning about the contents, nutritional balance, and serving methods of the meals, the participating students deepened their understanding of daily life in a correctional facility. They also received an explanation of meal provision from the private company responsible for the food service, learning about the unique initiatives of a public-private partnership prison.

During the subsequent facility explanation, we deepened our understanding of the significance of correctional education and rehabilitation support initiatives, and learned about the mechanisms for supporting social reintegration in cooperation with related organizations such as municipalities, welfare facilities, medical institutions, and NPOs. Furthermore, we received explanations about the work performed by private businesses and the characteristics of facility management through public-private partnerships, deepening our understanding of the multifaceted support system for the smooth social reintegration of inmates. Many questions were asked by the students during the Q&A session, and there was a lively exchange of opinions with the staff working on-site.

While some students had previously visited several correctional facilities, this was their first opportunity to learn about the initiatives of a public-private partnership prison, providing a valuable opportunity to understand the differences in roles and characteristics of each facility. Alumni of the university also participated, fostering interaction with current students. Through this visit, the students deepened their understanding of correctional education and social reintegration support, and increased their understanding of and interest in correctional professions, including investigators and prison officers.

Click here for details about the Harima Social Reintegration Promotion Center.
Click here for details about Teikyo University Faculty of Law.
Click here for more details about Professor Makoto Kanazawa.
Click here for more details about Associate Professor

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