Officers at some prisons and correctional facilities have engaged in inappropriate behavior that includes leaking information to a relative of an inmate and sexually harassing a girl in detention.

These findings come in the form of documents recently obtained by Kyodo News that constitute a report on punishment given to staff of the Justice Ministry's Correction Bureau from fiscal 1996 to 2000.

The report lists punishment, such as pay cuts, meted out for the infractions, but officials at the correctional facilities failed to note the exact dates various individuals were punished.

The bureau is tasked with administering various correctional institutions, including prisons and juvenile facilities as well as detention centers.

The findings of a survey by a ministry-affiliated group of scholars, announced Monday, corroborate information on prison officers' misbehavior as 7.6 percent of prison guards surveyed admitted to bullying and beating prisoners.

According to Shizuoka Prison, a male prison guard in his 50s began a personal relationship in early 1998 with a woman related to a male inmate. After the inmate was transferred to a different prison, the guard went to the woman's house to inform her personally.

Prison officials said the guard dined out with the woman several times and talked to her about her relative. His relationship with the woman came to light after his colleagues reported it. He was docked one month's pay in August 1998.

In another case, a male instructor sent by the ministry made inappropriate advances toward a girl detained at the Kochi Juvenile Classification Home in 1999.