Three former inmates of Nagoya Prison and the family of a dead prisoner jointly filed a civil suit Friday, demanding a total of 233.5 million yen from the state and 12 prison guards over alleged assaults.
It is the first time that former inmates have jointly sued the government for a suspected injustice inside prison walls, lawyers for the plaintiffs said.
According to the lawsuit filed at the Tokyo District Court, guards separately assaulted the three former inmates on several occasions between October 2001 and September 2002.