Amnesty International criticized Japan for mistreating prison inmates and suspects under police custody and in detention houses in its annual report on worldwide human rights concerns released Wednesday.
"Conditions of detention remained harsh, often amounting to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment," the London-based human rights group said in its 1999 report.
The report cites as typical a dismissed court claim filed by a prisoner in Tokyo's Fuchu Prison that he was assaulted by a guard and held in a leather body belt and metal handcuffs.