In Japanese, it was called Tokubetsu Byoshitsu (特別病室, Special Ward) or Jyu Kanbo (重監房, Prison for Severe Crimes).

In 1916, the leprosy prevention law was amended and that time, decisions of confinement and custody could be made by a director of a leprosarium, with other decisions such as reduction of meals (this was discontinued in 1947) and 30-day confinement in a leprosarium.

In March 1947, Colonel Paul Rush, an American physician, visited the sanatorium and heard the complaints of patients.

On August 11, Japan Communist Party members, in preparation for a coming upper house election, visited the sanatorium and were surprised to see the prison.

When the diet problem was discussed, the director was changed and the responsible section-chief was dismissed.

Transfer of dead bodies: The season was almost winter, and we had to obey the order of the doctors.