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‘No VIP treatment for Miura in new jail’
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Posted on Jul 27 2008
Kazuyoshi Miura is being treated the same as all the other inmates at the new state-of-the-art prison in Susupe.
Department of Corrections Commissioner Lino S. Tenorio said there is no VIP treatment as there is no difference between Miura and all the other inmates.
“I know that the attorneys have been asking for special meals for him to be served such as sushi and sashimi and all things of that nature. But we cannot do that. Once you can do that for one individual or one inmate, we should do that for the rest,” Tenorio told Saipan Tribune.
The DOC official said there is also no truth to the word on the street that the Japanese businessman has been mistreated or is not being treated fairly in jail.
Miura is being detained in a maximum security cell. In that housing unit, there is a total of 12 individual cells.
“ He is in one of those individual cells. It’s like a 7 by 9 feet size. It is fitted with a toilet and a sink. He is doing fine,” Tenorio said.
He said Miura’s hours to use the phone are extended up to 8pm pursuant to a court order as he needs to talk with some lawyers in the U.S. mainland.
Tenorio said when they transferred all the inmates, including Miura, to the new prison on July 10, they stopped all privileges (extension time for phone calls) for the first two days.
He said Miura’s new cell is about the same as the old one except that it is much colder in the new facility.
“In the old one, there was a window where you can look out. But this new one has no window; the cell is actually enclosed. It’s just walls on all three sides,” Tenorio said.
The commissioner said he believes Miura has no other special activities in jail other than taking fresh air.
The State of California is seeking Miura’s extradition on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the killing of his wife in 1981. Miura has been in jail since he was arrested at the Saipan airport last Feb. 22.
