Thank you to everyone who has read/reviewed so far. You guys are awesome!

A few people have wondered about what's going on with Kaito. This chapter explores the other part of the justice system we don't usually see in Detective Conan. See end author's notes for more details. Enjoy!

Meitantei

Chapter 4: The Other Side of Things

Kuroba Kaito felt listless as he went about his daily life at the detention center. He hadn't been there very long, but he was already beginning to feel the suffocation of the place. Being cooped up was not something he had ever enjoyed, and there was little to keep his mind occupied. Not for the first time had he thought about breaking out of the detention center. He had decided against it as he didn't want to blemish the Kuroba name. Not that he couldn't do it; with the lack of mental stimulation, he'd already memorized the guards' schedules, found the little areas that needed improvement in terms of constant supervision, and would be able to easily scale the walls while creating a rather spectacular distraction.

Not to mention he was secretly enjoying watching the guards scratch their heads as their things would somehow end up in different locations: keys in different pockets, watches on the opposite wrist – little things.

Sadly, Kaito had learned early on that a guard's hat mysteriously ending up on top of the flagpole with no trace of who put it there got everyone yelled out and their free time cut.

Repeatedly he had to remind himself that he didn't want to make anyone suspicious of him being Kid. But Kid was not someone who dealt well with being in a cage.

A bail bondsman service had spoken with him about putting up the money for bail, but Kaito had declined. His mother had said that they could borrow the money to post his bail, and that they would get it back once he showed up for trial, but Kaito couldn't stomach the thought. It was too much money. He didn't want to borrow it from the service. He'd heard too many stories about those places having underhanded rates and hidden agendas. Until his name was cleared, he had little to do other than pray and hope that his lawyer would find the evidence to acquit him quickly.

While he knew he was innocent of this crime, even with advocates stating that he was a person of good character, it had been one of the hardest times of his life.

After he had been arrested, he'd been taken to a daiyo kangoku. Kaito had been expecting the police inspectors involved in his case to be the same ones interrogating him, but he couldn't believe the change in personality between their questions at the crime scene and their behavior as they verbally abused him and did everything in their power to make him confess to a crime he had not committed.

Sure Kaito had seen plenty of police dramas and knew about the harshness of the interrogations. He also knew that the police were infamous for forcing confessions when they were sure they had their suspect. But Kaito was innocent. They wouldn't treat him like that.

He was wrong.

Kaito had half expected some of the members of division one he knew – Chiba, Takagi, Satou, Shiratori, or Megure to be on the scene. He knew these police detectives from their connections with past Kid heists when it had overlapped with murder investigations. He obviously knew some of the investigators from division two and three who worked together because of his heists. But unfortunately for him, there hadn't been a truly friendly or familiar face amongst his questioners.

He'd heard horror stories about people's experiences in daiyo kangoku facilities before, but he'd never quite understood just how bad those could be. The interrogation of the people accusing him of murder and theft had been harsh and demanding. Kaito hadn't said anything other than what he'd told the police detectives who had arrived at the scene. His story never changed, but they kept pressing him into confessing. The first few days it had mostly been annoying. But after nearly two weeks of constant questioning and harsh demands, it had begun to get to him. He was lucky to have been saved by Nakamori-keibu storming in and demanding that he be properly charged and transferred to a detention center.

Kaito never wanted to go through that experience again. Under the law he was allowed to be held for an interview (more like interrogation) in the daiyo kangoku for up to seventy two hours without a formal charge. After that period, a judge had agreed to extend his stay for another ten days. When Kaito did not change his response after the first ten days, the judge had agreed to extend his stay for yet another ten days.

Thankfully, Kaito had only had to endure one day into the second extension as Nakamori-keibu had arrived and forced them to properly process Kaito's charge. Once an official charge had been made, he'd been sent to the detention center.

The only thing he had to endure for this was Nakamori-keibu yelling at him for not telling the prosecutors to contact him sooner. He would never have believed he'd ever be so glad to have the keibu yell at him. It was a strangely welcoming and familiar greeting.

If he were ever incarcerated as Kaitou Kid, he was sure that Nakamori-keibu would not be nearly as helpful in moving his case along. The thought of going through that process again, knowing that he would not have anyone on his side was more than a little unsettling.

For two weeks he'd been held in the daiyo kangoku without a formal charge. When he was finally transferred, he'd been charged with third degree murder. The case was being treated as a homicide rather than manslaughter due to his supposed theft. Still, he supposed he'd rather it be treated like a homicide rather than a planned murder, but he was innocent!

He was charged with murdering Motoyama Kenji the owner of the bird sanctuary where Kaito bought his doves. The thing was, Kaito was in the room nearby when it had happened, but he hadn't even heard anything. Everyone else had an alibi. A jewel that he had not stolen had ended up in his bag with his fingerprints on it. A video showed Motoyama-san's death and it seemed that there was a prank which resulted in his death. And okay, so Kaito was the only one nearby who could have done it at first glance – at first glance. It also didn't help that he'd had a plane ticket to leave the country. Due to these facts, the police officers had been trying to force him to admitting that he had killed Motoyama-san. Except, he hadn't.

Once he was out of the daiyo kangoku and processed in the detention center as a remand prisoner (a prisoner who was awaiting trial without being able to pay his bail), he had finally been able to accept visitors. His mother had been worried to say the least. She'd had practically no information in regards to why he had been arrested. As he had been planning a trip right after visiting Motoyama-san for a period of several weeks, she hadn't realized anything had happened. (Part of the reason the police also felt he was suspicious was due to the fact that he had a plane ticket headed to France the next day and Kaito hadn't been entirely forthcoming as to why he was going.)

Since Kaito had been unable to call anyone while in the daiyo kangoku, and since he didn't want the police to be the ones to contact Jii, he hadn't let them know about his situation. He had mentioned that he knew Nakamori Ginzo, but Kaito knew that Nakamori-keibu had left Japan to go to an international Kaitou Kid conference in France. After all, Kaito had been planning on making a surprise appearance as Kaitou Kid at the conference but that plan had been ruined. Thankfully someone had mentioned to Nakamori-keibu upon his return that there was someone in holding who had said he'd known him, but until then, Kaito had been on his own. As a minor the police force had attempted to contact his mother oversees, but they hadn't been able to get in contact with her. Thankfully, once he'd been allowed to see Jii, his dutiful friend had contacted his mother through other means.

Not that Kaito wanted her involved. He didn't want to give the police any chance to have his mother, the former Phantom Lady, nor Jii, the former, if very temporary, Kaitou Kid connected to him in case things turned out for the worse. The police had searched his home, but since they had not accused him of being Kaitou Kid, Kaito knew they hadn't found his father's secret room. Thankfully!

The accusations had been a constant bombardment against his character, and he never would have thought he'd be thankful to go to a detention facility. Yet after the daiyo kangoku, it was definitely a better change. For starters, he wasn't being interrogated so harshly.

Life in the detention facility wasn't as bad for him as others. Since he was still awaiting trial he did not need to wear the horrible inmate uniform. He was also not forced to do any type of manual labor, but he had purposefully offered to help do something because otherwise he was bored out of his mind. If he were convicted, that would all change.

One of the surprising "comforts" of the facility was that he had his own TV and radio in his solitary cell, even if the programs that he was allowed to watch were limited. It was therefore a pleasant surprise that they had been airing the recent Kaitou Kid heists. Even though he knew many news broadcasts aired the heists live, it was still rather interesting to hear people cheering for Kaitou Kid from their jail cells. He would have thought that that type of rowdy behavior would have made the guards angry. Yet, despite their usually harsh manners, the guards seemed to enjoy the heists too.

Kaito would much rather be orchestrating the heist than watch Jii doing them on his own. It made Kaito worry about him. He'd only been able to receive messages via doves. Jii had managed to send a coded message explaining that he would be continuing Kid's work in order to "prove" that he and Kid weren't one in the same. Although Kaito understood the reasons behind Jii's actions, he still worried about him, especially after the last two heists.

At one heist, Hakuba Saguru had managed to put Jii in handcuffs. It made Kaito exasperated just thinking about it. Hadn't Hakuba learned that handcuffs were no match for Kaitou Kid – or any escape artist for that matter? Still, Hakuba had probably assumed (rightfully so) that the Kid doing the most recent heists wasn't the real Kid. Hakuba had already come to visit Kaito to show his disgust about Kaito being caught for a murder he hadn't committed. Hakuba seemed to take it personally that someone else had managed to get him behind bars. Knowing Hakuba, he hadn't taken Jii's abilities seriously. Hakuba could be so observant but overlook the blaringly obvious at times.

But last night's heist…that had Kaito extremely worried.

The news had reported that Kaitou Kid had not managed to make off with the jewel and Kudou Shinichi had personally wrestled it from his person. The previous heists Jii had orchestrated, Kudou and Hakuba respectively had managed to stop Jii from taking the jewels, but "wrestling" him for it made Kaito quite worried. Kicking a soccer ball at Kid would sound about right, or perhaps tricking him in some way. Somehow "wrestling" for it sounded too...off.

It sounded like Jii was having a difficult time dealing with Hakuba and especially Kudou Shinichi. Not that he could blame Jii. He was fairly certain that there were times when the Heisei Holmes allowed him to "run away" as long as he returned the jewel. Not for the first time was he grateful that Meitantei-kun didn't shoot him with his tranquilizer watch if he felt the jewel would be returned. That was one of the biggest differences between Hakuba and Kudou-kun. Hakuba wanted to put Kaito behind bars. Kudou-kun wanted to make sure that the jewels weren't stolen. Kudou-kun seemed to realize that there was a greater meaning behind why he did what he did. Kaito had no delusions that if Kudou-kun felt it would serve a greater purpose then he'd try harder to put him in jail. But Kudou-kun was more concerned about stopping the theft rather than putting him behind bars. Hakuba, on the other hand, would rather stop him completely.

Kaito found it ironic that Hakuba, who was known for asking criminals, "Why did you commit the crime?" didn't seem to grasp that there were other motives behind why Kaito did what he did. Kudou-kun got that. He didn't like that Kaito stole, but there were times where he could have captured Kid but let him go.

It was more a challenge than a chase. As long as he returned the jewel, the detective didn't impeded his getaway, leaving them to match wits another day.

After all, Kudou-kun had made it well known that he preferred putting murderers behind bars rather than thieves.

Kaito sighed. He knew the detective's track record with solving impossible crimes was impressive. The Heisei Holmes had a tendency to actually be there when the crime happened and skillfully maneuver the criminal into revealing him or herself. It wasn't like Kaito to have such bad luck. Usually his luck would have extended to Kudou-kun being there to figure out who had really killed Motoyama-san. However, with the way things were going, his bad luck might extend to having Kudou-kun catch Jii. He knew that it couldn't have happened at the heist the night before as it would have been all over the news. Yet if things kept going the way they were, it might not be too long…

Kaito hoped that Jii would be able to get a message to him in some way to let him know that he was okay.

Not being able to access the internet to find information meant that utter boredom was starting to get to him. But the real kicker wasn't the boredom. It wasn't even the memory of the way the officers had treated him.

No, there was definitely one thing above all others that made being in prison the hardest experience of Kaito's life.

Kaito could stand the irate officers. Yes, they're grumpy and degrading manners were annoying, but Kaito could dish out his own annoyances in waves. He could take as much as he got. He could even find ways to keep himself from being entirely bored when he wanted to. In some ways, he was thrilled with the thought of knowing the inner workings of a prison. It made him feel like Harry Houdini in a lot of ways.

No, it was the meals they served at this place. He couldn't stand dealing with that type of food every day. Day in and day out seeing so many f-fish all in one place: that was torturous!

His trial couldn't come soon enough.

Shinichi was unsurprised to see Ran already sitting at a booth through the Royal Café's window, checking her watch. He was running a little late as he'd stopped to mail his letter to Kid's assistant with his list of "demands."

"Ah, mom said you'd be coming," Ran said, greeting Shinichi as he entered the cafe. Ran smiled warmly at him, smiled at him in the same way she had ever since she'd forgiven him for lying to her about him being Conan: friendly but reserved. Shinichi smiled back and slid into the booth seat opposite from Ran. The waitress quickly came to take his order – coffee – while bowing politely as she placed Ran's order (tea) in front of her.

For a moment his thoughts were distracted as he looked after the waitress, taking in her appearance.

"She's very pretty," Ran said without jealousy or malice. Shinichi turned to look at his childhood friend, confused for a brief moment before realizing Ran thought he was checking the waitress out. He laughed a little.

"Ah, no, that's not why I was looking at her. The waitress has recently been through a difficult break-up."

"Eh? How can you tell?"

"Look at her. She's obviously been working here for some time as she's clearly known to some of whom I suspect to be regular customers," Shinichi said, nodding as the woman spoke quite amicably with some of the other patrons. "However, if you look at her uniform, you can tell that it's a bit loose on her, indicating that's she's lost enough weight in a short period of time not to have gotten a smaller sized uniform, most likely in the past two weeks. All the other waitresses' outfits fit them much better, meaning that they're tailored to each waitress individually. The shape matches her form implying that it was at one time fitted for her frame, the looseness of it indicates weight loss. Even though she does not have a perm, her hair is rather dry and brittle looking. The scent of her shampoo is Shiseido Tsubaki. This means she is conscious of the health of her hair. The shampoo should prevent the type of damage her hair has from environmental factors, meaning that the deteriorating health of her hair has been dietary. She has not been eating properly and taking in the right amount of nutrition necessary to give her hair its usual shine."

"First of all, did you sniff her hair? Secondly, how do you know what Shiseido Tsubaki smells like? Not to mention, how do you know her hair is usually shiny?" Ran asked, crossing her arms.

"Ah, when she bent over to place down your tea I could smell the scent of her shampoo. It's known for smelling like camellia flowers. In the picture on the wall, she was the employee of the month a month and a half ago. You can clearly see how she filled her uniform more aptly and how her hair has a greater bounce and shine. Now, with her loss of weight and lack of nutrient intake, it's clear that she's not actively trying to lose weight by any healthy means. It could be due to anorexia or bulimia as both methods for losing weight leave similar signs of malnutrition. Yet I don't think that it's due to intent to lose weight but rather a loss of appetite. The way that she posed both playfully and provocatively for her employee of the month photo indicates that she has a fairly good self-image, something that people who lose weight due to eating disorders tend not to have."

"Why a break-up? How do you know it wasn't because of a death in the family, or because something like not getting into the school she wanted?"

"Most likely it was a bad break-up as she has a pendent that she keeps fingering through the top layer of her blouse. She does it subconsciously but keeps realizing what she's doing and looks forlorn and sad. It's obviously from someone important to her, like a boyfriend. The way she does it means that it's been a habit for quite some time, yet looking forlorn indicates a loss of someone dear to her – either, as you mentioned, due to death, or because of a break-up. However, her female co-workers seem concerned about her more so than her male co-workers. Women tend to group together to encourage other women over bad break-ups. If it was a death or for some other reason, all the co-workers would be trying to cheer her up."

"What's wrong with guy friends cheering up female friends after break-ups?"

"It's not that that it doesn't happen; it's just that that's generally the case."

"Here's your coffee," the waitress said, placing the coffee down in front of Shinichi before smiling sadly and walking off.

"She also smiles sadly at us as she likely thinks we're here on a date and is feeling nostalgic about her own dates with her ex."

Ran sighed and shook her head.

"Really, you are something else," Ran smiled. "Hanako-chan is one of my classes, and I've had her multiple times as my waitress. The last time I saw her on campus she told me how her boyfriend dumped her pretty harshly two and a half weeks ago."

"So you knew but were just testing me?" Shinichi asked.

"What if I was?" Ran said, with a big smile. "Acting as Sleeping Kogorou, I'm starting to try and get more into the mindset to understand how you're so observant. You always seem to find the smallest detail so quickly. Not that there aren't always cases popping up around you. Remember? Even just the last time we came here was when you were still, well...you know."

The last time Shinichi had visited the Royal Café had been when he'd followed Ran as Conan intent on finding out whom she was meeting with as her response of "Shinichi" had clearly been a lie. The case had involved a man being killed in the bathroom stalls with Ran's mom as one of the suspects. She had been an extremely helpful asset in leading the police to determining the culprit.

Speaking of Kisaki-san, Shinichi looked at the time, noticing she was a few minutes late. As Ran had arrived first and Shinichi second, Kisaki-san's momentary absence gave Ran time to bring up his time as Conan.

"You know, sometimes I really miss having Conan-kun...having you in the house. Even though I had always suspected that you and Conan-kun were the same, it was almost like he...like you…like Conan-kun died when I found out." Shinichi swallowed the coffee along with his guilt. The bitterness hit his stomach, leaving it twisted. He'd always known Ran would have a hard time dealing with learning of his deceit, but somehow, he'd never really realized that she would mourn Conan's absence so much. "Still, it's been over a year already. I think, maybe..." Ran murmured, fiddling with her cup of tea. Shinichi sat his cup of coffee down, waiting for Ran to continue, leaning in toward her hopefully.

"We talk all the time, but I miss…"

He could tell that she had more to say, and a sliver of hope bloomed in his chest. Suddenly that small drop of hope felt like it would last him for a thousand lonely nights. However, whatever Ran was going to add died on her lips as Kisaki-san walked into the café. Both he and Ran sat back from each other. The action did not go unnoticed as Kisaki-san frowned, visibly crestfallen at having interrupted what was obviously a serious conversation.

"Sorry, I'm late," Kisaki-san apologized, sliding into the booth seat next to Ran. "I wanted to make sure that Kuroba-kun got the message that Shinichi-kun would be speaking with him today instead of me."

"Ah, I see," Ran said. It made sense, but Shinichi would bet money that she had also been trying to give him and Ran some alone time together before she got there. Sighing, he turned toward Hanako-san, who had returned to take their food orders.

Eating lunch together felt nice. He would admit to himself that sometimes he missed being Conan too. He missed the feeling of fulfillment he'd had that he and Ran were together like a family.

After Conan had "returned" to his parents, Kisaki-san had come back to the Mouri household. She wasn't there very long before she and Occhan had had another falling out, but she still came by frequently. Ran was, as per usual, trying to convince her to come home permanently.

"Sometimes," Kisaki-san said, with a pointed look at Shinichi, "you will find that when a man's vices, habits, and interests seem more important than you, that it's hard to want to be around him."

Oi, what happened to being on my side? Shinichi wondered to himself. Shinichi knew it was a jab that he'd been away on a case for so long without bothering to come back to visit, except that Kisaki-san didn't know that he'd been there the whole time with Ran. Then again, if she did know, she might not be too happy about it.

"That's because men are idiots," Ran countered.

"Oi."

"And you can't help but love them for it."

"Ran," Shinichi said surprised, looking at Ran as she blushed, her eyes downcast as she picked up and sipped at her tea.

Kisaki-san cleared her throat, more in a way to remind them that she was still there rather than in annoyance.

"Ah, anyway…" Ran began, blushing a little. "Okaa-san – I just remembered! When Otou-san helped solve that child-kidnapping case last week," Ran gave a little apologetic grin to Shinichi when she said this. In reality, it had been Shinichi's help that had solved the case with Ran acting as "Sleeping Kogorou" to explain Shinichi's deduction. Shinichi gave a little shrug. The little girl was safe. That was the most important thing: not who had solved the case. "…the parents invited the two of us out to that new expensive Italian restaurant near the Haido Shopping Mall. When they found out that you were his wife, they wanted you to come! It's tomorrow night. Please say yes! Please come!"

"We can talk about that later. You wanted to know about Kuroba-kun's case," Kisaki-san directed her last comment to Shinichi as she pulled out a file. Ran made a frustrated sound as her mother expertly redirected the topic of conversation.

"Ah, yes." Shinichi opened the file folder, looking at the picture of Kuroba Kaito clipped to the papers.

"He looks just like Shinichi!" Ran said, looking at the picture upside down.

"I was surprised myself when I first saw him. I had to do a double take. After I met with him, I called your parents, Shinichi-kun. Really, the two of you even sound alike. I could have sworn you were twins separated at birth. Your father explained that you were not related, but that he had been friends with his father through Yukiko-chan since he had taught her how to do quick change and simple disguises."

"Quick-change?" Ran asked.

"It's a performer's trick that can refer to quickly changing personalities, or even further allowing them to change clothes quickly: hence the term quick-change. Generally it involves having one outfit that is able to turn into one or multiple other styles. Sometimes wigs and masks are included for a more thorough disguise," Shinichi explained.

"Like Kaitou Kid!"

Shinichi laughed. "Yes, exactly like Kaitou Kid." And after discussing the case, Shinichi was very eager to meet the master of disguise himself.

"What's that?"

Kaito's head turned at the surprised voice of one of the inmates. Currently, he was helping with the prison laundry as part of his daily tasks. Since he was still awaiting trial, he had not been put through the fifteen day orientation nor had he had his skills tested to find what type of work would best suit his skill set. Even though he was not required to work, Kaito had volunteered to do so in order to make money in order to "purchase" things inside the prison. And to keep from being bored. He would have to remember never to tell his mother that he found doing laundry had kept him from being bored to death.

Kaito looked back at the man who had spoken. The guy, Fujimoto Takumi – age thirty six, frequently traded parts of his meal with Kaito. Kaito refused to eat the fish, and there were others who didn't mind trading for it.

"It's nothing, Fujimoto," Kurokawa Hayato, a man in his early seventies hush whispered to his fellow inmate. He was another one of the men who Kaito could count on to trade his undesirable meal items with.

"No, no. There's something over there," Fujimoto insisted.

More people began to look. Behind one of the large bins that held the laundry, something was clearly shuffling. Before Fujimoto reached it, Kaito took a look at Kurokawa who was hobbling over toward the younger man.

"Don't-" Kurokawa whispered to Fujimoto. If Kaito hadn't been close by, he wouldn't even have heard him.

But before Kurokawa could stop Fujimoto, the younger man had reached down and pulled out –of all things – a cat.

"It's a cat!" Fujimoto declared, delightedly. "She's a beauty, too! Look at her! Such a sleek gray cat with cute little black mittens around her paws!"

"What are you two doing?" The harsh voice of the prison guard demanded. Both of their faces fell. Fujimoto's fell with guilt, while Kurokawa's fell with despair. As the guard approached, looks of fear at the thought of what the discovery might mean for them passed their faces. Fujimoto turned his back while Kurokawa tried to cover the animal being cradled in the other man's arms.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Fujimoto had stumbled upon Kurokawa's beloved yet unacceptable pet. This prison guard in particular was a strict stickler for rules. Raising your eyes to him or speaking disrespectfully meant punishment for sure. Being discovered with a cat would be unthinkable torment. Kaito quickly stepped up toward the two men, smiling broadly at both of them before turning toward the prison guard.

"It's a cat, sir!" Kaito said jovially. The guard looked at him skeptically before turning back to look at Fujimoto and Kurokawa who were glaring at him for giving them both away.

"So I heard. Cats are not allowed. Where is the mangy feline?" the prison guard demanded, his eyes like icicles, cold and sharp.

"Not a real cat, sir! It's on the uniform!" Kaito held up a prison shirt with a caricature of a cat – gray with black paws. Kurokawa and Fujimoto looked stunned, especially Fujimoto who no long held a cat in his hands. He looked about him on the ground, wondering where the cat had vanished to all of a sudden.

The prison guard looked at them all strangely before ordering them back to work. Kaito grinned widely at the two men before heading back to his duties, his heart thudding in his chest.

"Kuroba-kun," Kurokawa began. Kaito shook his head.

"You can't keep cats in here. First of all, the guards will be more leery. But second of all, there are a lot of people who have cat allergies. Having a cat in the laundry where she can get her fur all over those people's clothes isn't safe."

"I-I know that. B-but still! I just, I mean…she needs a good home."

"Don't worry. I'll figure something out," Kaito promised to Kurokawa. The other man nodded and the two of them got back to work.

There were strict rules in the prisons. Those who did not follow them could be put into solitary confinement for long periods of time. Kaito didn't want either of the two men to have to go through that. Especially since they both helped him out with his fish issues! Not to mention he'd heard that there was a man who kept waking up with symptoms of a severe allergic reaction. No, the poor kitty had to go. From inside of his shirt, the cat in question meowed at him.

Looking back at Fujimoto, a thought struck him.

"I know what I can do with you," Kaito murmured happily.

The cat merely mewled back at him.

Continued in Chapter 5: Through the Looking Glass…

Next chapter – Kaito and Shinichi face to face! :)

Usually we don't get to see how criminals are treated in the Detective Conan series. There are only two manga related cases that I can think of; the first that comes to mind was the Detective Koushien case when the female detective's friend is accused of being a murderess and kills herself due to the harsh treatment by the police (Chapter 566). The harsh interrogation method of the police has also been made light of during chapter 404 where Takagi is "interrogate" in regards to his date with Satou. While most of the Detective Conan police officers do not seem to portray this, Japan's treatment of suspects and prisoners alike has come under the radar in more recent years due to a violation of human rights.

Prisoners can only speak during certain allotted times. Depending on the offense, prisoners face severe punishments. Even in the last ten years, it was legal for guards to suspended prisoners in leather clamps or with the use of an arresting rope for long periods of time. Thankfully that practice has been abolished.

I tried to keep it as realistic to what would/could happen to a Japanese suspect as possible. Daiyo kangokus are the facilities within the police buildings that we usually see when the police are heavily questioning the suspects in the Detective Conan cases. For example, in episode 479, the Three Days With Hattori Heiji case (chapter 566: Hot Blooded Detective), the girl who committed suicide would have been interrogated in a daiyo kangoku. The difference is that the questioning is done in the police station by the police detectives who are in charge of the case, which naturally makes sense, but laws have recently changed due to the lack of rights the people being held in the daiyo kangoku have. Still, prisoners can be held up to twenty three days without an official charge, without bail, and without access to a lawyer, and in most cases, no physician is on the premises since a daiyo kangoko are holding cells within the police station. Very interesting reading out there if you do a quick google search for daiyo kangoko.

In defense of the Japanese police and the reasoning behind this mindset, generally they do not arrest anyone unless they already have substantial evidence to put them away. Since there is evidence against them, many police try to pressure the suspects into confessing.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter!

~ Jelp