30 Days in Prison

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Abashiri Prison Museum **

This is another episode from Tales of the Unusal, aired in 1998. (Click here for the previous episode)

[Prologue]

The presenter at the beginning:

"Unfortunately, we humans are inevitably subjected to some sort of inequalities since our birth. 

But, there is one thing that is given equally to all people. 

That is, time. 

Whether you are a king or a pauper, you are only given 24 hours a day. 

But when it comes to the experience of time, it is unique to each person. 

The same one minute may feel short to someone while it can feel long to others. 

This is true especially in the strange world like this..." 

The presenter sets an hourglass on a table. 

[The Story]

It is some time in the not-so-distant future, when capital punishment is abolished in Japan.

A violent man (Note: I will call him M) who killed 7 innocent people, gets arrested by the police.

M's lawyer tells him that he won't be able to avoid being senteced to life in prison.

M says, "For real? You are telling me to spend the rest of my life in a pig sty? Get out of here, you shit. I'd rather get excuted." 

M shows no remorse whatsoever for the crime he has committed.

But contrary to the prediction, his sentence turns out to be just 30 days in prison. 

M is overjoyed and bursts out laughing in the court.

His lawyer can't believe his ears and looks flabbergasted, in contrast to the prosecutors who somehow appear satisfied. 

M goes through a physical examination, and is then led to a room where several doctors have been waiting for him. 

He lies down on a bed and receives an injection.

The doctor who injects him says: 

"This will make you a little sleepy..."

As is expected, M is overcome by sudden drowsiness. Before he closes his eyes, he sees a clock on the wall: it shows four o'clock in the afternoon.

🕷️🕷️🕷️

When M opens his eyes, he finds himself already in prison. He is received by a group of prison guards dressed like army officers (Note: they look a bit like the Nazis.)

M has thought 30 days in prison will be a breeze, but he is proved wrong the next day. 

M is taken to the rooftop by the head of the prison guard (Note: I will call him T) who crucifies him on an iron pole there. 

T tells M that from now on, he will be spending all day every day like this until his term is over. 

This is the beginning of the relentless tortures by the prison guards.

In the scorching sun, M's shirt and shoes are taken off. 

The sun heats up the iron pole, making it burning hot, and causing blisters on M's skin. 

On another day, T says, "You are sweating like a pig --- you must be short of salt," and orders his subordinate to rub salt on his blisters. 

All M can do is groan weakly from the pain. 

Yet on another day, T says, "I remember you had to take off your necklace before coming to the prison. Let me give you a new one," and puts a wet leather strap around M's neck.

The leather strap gets wound even more tightly around the neck when it is dried by the sun, almost stifling him.  

If M passes out, they splash water on his face, and do not allow him to stay unconscious. 

In the first few days, M is defiant, but as the days go by, he grows weaker and weaker, both in his body and spirit.

However, he endures the torture, and on the night of the 29th day, he regains his spirit, swearing to himself that he will take revenge on the prison guards once he gets out of the prison. 

Then finally, the 30th day comes. 

M is taken, not to the usual rooftop, but to a certain room. 

Once they are in the room, M is strapped to an electric chair. 

"You shall be executed now."

T says, and continues:

"30 days in prison is an argot for death penalty. Use your common sense. You killed 7 people yet get away with only 30 days in prison? Where on earth does a country that permits such a thing exist?" 

At first, M fights back with words, saying, "They've gotten rid of death penalty in this country!" and "If you kill me, my gang will come and bump you off!" 

But T counters, "It is not unusual for someone to go missing after they are released from prison at the end of their term. Your body will be dissolved by chemicals without a trace, and no one will be any the wiser." 

Realising the peril he is in, M begs, "No! Please don't kill me!" 

"Don't kill me? I wonder what your victims would have said were they here." 

T says, as he lays his hand on the switch of the electric chair.

"So, goodbye."

"No, stop! Please help me! I will do as you say. If you tell me to stay here forever, I will! So help me! Please help meee!" 

"I am disappointed. You of all people are begging for your life.... Good night."

"No, Stop! Stoooop!!!"

The electric chair is switched on ----

🕷️🕷️🕷️

---- and M comes to his senses.

M, realising he is still alive, and that he has at last finished his 30-day term in prison, breathes a sigh of relief.

"Hey, it's over, right? Let me out now." 

M says in a feeble voice. He has no strength left to be rebellious after what he has gone through.

But the doctor standing by his bedside tells him the staggering truth.  

"Not yet. It has only been five minutes since you arrived here."

M looks at the clock and it shows five minutes past four. 

After M was injected with sleep-inducing drug, he was connected to a certain device which made him experience those 30 days of pain in the virtual reality.

If 5 minutes is equal to 30 days, an hour will be equal to a year. A day will be 24 years. 

So 30 days will be ----

 "N - no..."

"Let's continue, shall we? You have 29 days and 23 hours 55 minutes left until your term is over."

The doctor injects another shot of the drug into his veins. 

"No, stoooop!!!"

🕷️🕷️🕷️

30 days later.

A woman waits at the front gate of the prison, for the return of her lover, M. 

The gate opens. The woman smiles in expectation, but what she sees is only a shabby old man.

Not him. Disappointed, she ignores the old man who shuffles past her, and continues to wait for her man.

She never realises that the shrivelled old man with white hair was once her young handsome lover 30 days ago. 

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**Abashiri Prison Museum 

⭐Abashiri Prison Museum Official Website 

⭐A Look Into Japan's Most Famous and Inescapable Prison: Hokkaido's Abashiri Prison Museum

⭐Abashiri Prison (Wikipedia)

⭐Yoshie Shiratori --- a famous prison breaker who escaped from Abashiri Prison and whose lifelike doll is displayed in the museum (look at the picture at the top closely and you will see him. 😆✨ (See Wikipedia)

⭐Watch the drama "30 Days in Prison" on niconico video  (Only in Japanese, with Chinese subtitles)

To switch off the comments on the screen, press the pause button, and then tap on the speech bubble icon. 

(Edit) 

🧡Interesting related article:

Could we condemn criminals to suffer for hundreds of years? Biotechnology could let us extend convicts' lives 'indefinitely'