The Back Gate of Abashiri Prison was called “the side
gate”. The construction of the redbrick wall started with the building of the Back Gate in
1919. After the start of construction, inmates continued to lay bricks little by little over
the course of five years, and the 1,080m-long redbrick wall was completed in 1924. For the 70
years from then until September 1993, the Back Gate was used by inmates when they went out to
farm or to work at a hog farm. Unlike the imposing Main Gate, the Back Gate had special
significance to inmates, who had a sense of liberation when they passed through.