Prisoners lending hands in mask production amid coronavirus outbreak

To aid society in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak, Japanese prisoners have been set to work turning out cloth masks and protective gear to help overcome shortages instead of the leatherware and carpentry goods they usually make.A total of around 100 inmates at prisons in Aomori in northeast Japan and Kyoto, Osaka, Kakogawa, Yamaguchi, Iwakuni and Takamatsu in western Japan are aiming to produce 66,000 masks per month to meet orders received from the private sector in March.Protective gear, meanwhile, which is in short supply on the medical frontline, is being produced at prisons …READ FULL ARTICLE