A popular laundry soap made by prisoners is being sold online at more than three times the list price after production fell due to novel coronavirus restrictions on prison work.
Officials believe that scalpers are buying the soap in bulk to make a killing through resale.
The Blue Stick soap, billed as a “superstar stain remover,” is the top-selling item among a range of products manufactured by prison labor at correctional institutions across Japan.
A set of three 14-centimeter sticks, each weighing 150 grams, is being sold for around 1,300 yen (about $9) at a major online retailer, compared with the list price of 400 yen.
Often used for shirts, socks and shoes, the soap is made at the Yokosuka Branch Prison in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. About 150,000 bars were sold in fiscal 2022.
The Japanese Correctional Association, a public-interest organization selling prison-made goods under the CAPIC (Correctional Association Prison Industry Cooperation) brand, set a purchasing limit after customers complained they could not find the soap.
CAPIC Shop Nakano in Tokyo’s Nakano Ward limited purchases to two sets per family when the soap was particularly in short supply. Purchases are still limited to a maximum of six sets.
On the CAPIC online shop, customers are allowed to buy only one set per day.
“CAPIC products are characterized as being cheap and of a high quality,” said Satoshi Sakurai, a senior official of the Japanese Correctional Association. “We cannot allow them to be traded at an inflated price because it will hurt the brand’s image.”
The soap was developed at the Yokohama Prison in around 1990. It has been made at the Yokosuka Branch Prison since 1997.
About 20 prisoners work at a factory to produce about 1,000 sticks a day.
“The prisoners, themselves, rigorously inspect the products to maintain quality,” said Daisuke Yoshida, who supervises the prisoners’ work at the Yokosuka Branch Prison. “I am surprised by how much attention they pay to the details.”
Sales from prison-made goods go to national coffers. In the 18 years through 2022, 80 million yen from the sales were donated to organizations that support crime victims.
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