Abashiri Prison in Hokkaido allows well-behaved inmates to raise beef cattle at a nearby farm in a program designed to teach them that each life must be respected.
Meat from the black cattle has been on sale under the name Abashiri Kangoku Wagyu (Abashiri Prison Japanese Beef) at a shop next to the prison since February. Some of the cattle have earned the highest rank of A5 from the Tokyo-based Japan Meat Grading Association.
On the morning of April 22, one male inmate was brushing the back of a well-fed cow at a cattle shed at Futamigaoka farm, about 7 km away from the prison in Abashiri, which is located on the Sea of Okhotsk.