The Justice Ministry has issued a notice to prisons around the country to have inmates who have undergone male-to-female sex reassignment surgeries handled by female staffers, regardless of their legal gender status, it was learned Wednesday.

The ministry's move is in line with guidelines it adopted in June 2011. In June of this year, the Hyogo-ken Bar Association had also submitted a letter urging the ministry to improve conditions for inmates with gender identity issues.

"This is a flexible response that reflects the reality (of inmates)," said Mikiya Nakatsuka, a professor at Okayama University and director of the Japanese Society of Gender Identity Disorder.

In February 2012, the Hyogo prefectural bar association asked a forty-something inmate transitioning from male to female to be moved to a women's prison. But the bar group's request was denied on grounds that the inmate had not had her sex status changed on her family register.

The inmate was subjected to physical examinations by male prison staff.

Changing the sex status on the family registry is often difficult because applicants need to clear several conditions, such as being single and not having underage children, in addition to having completed sex-change operations.

According to the ministry, as of June, about 50 people were confirmed to have gender identity issues at the nation's prisons and detention centers.