Fukuoka prefectural police have said officers flipped through "suspect notebooks" — the diaries detainees keep of their interrogations — during daily inspections of their belongings, a practice that put the state inside a suspect's own defense record.
The force disclosed the practice on Tuesday and said it changed its operations on Monday. Detention facilities have been told not to inspect the notebooks, Kyodo News reported.
Under the practice, officers leafed through the notebooks by eye each day when they checked what detainees were holding. The notebooks are where suspects write down what was said in their interrogations.
Defense lawyers have long argued that custody conditions should not be used to gather information about a suspect's defense. Reading a detainee's notes gives police a view of what the suspect intends to argue, before any charge is tested in court.
The change came a day after the practice was disclosed. Fukuoka police have not said what prompted the shift.