Iwao Hakamada, an 89-year-old former boxer once recognized as the world’s longest-serving death row inmate, has been granted approximately $1.4 million (217 million yen) by the Shizuoka District Court as compensation for his wrongful conviction in a 1966 quadruple murder case.

Acquitted in a landmark retrial in September 2024, Hakamada endured over 46 years in prison—most in solitary confinement—before his release in 2014, following evidence of police fabrication that unraveled his 1968 death sentence.

The payout, announced Monday, marks Japan’s largest-ever criminal compensation, calculated at the legal maximum of 12,500 yen ($83) per day for his 47 years and seven months of detention.

Hakamada’s ordeal began when he was arrested for allegedly stabbing his boss and family at a miso factory in Shizuoka, a confession he later said was beaten out of him over 20 days of brutal interrogation. DNA tests in 2014 disproved key evidence—blood-stained clothes planted in a miso tank—prompting his release and a decade-long fight for exoneration, championed by his sister Hideko, now 91.

While the sum reflects Japan’s Criminal Compensation Act ceiling, it’s sparked debate. “It’s a pittance—$83 a day can’t restore 46 years of torment,” one observer noted on X, echoing sentiments that the mental toll, including Hakamada’s diagnosed institutional psychosis, defies monetary repair.

His lawyers, who sought this amount in January, are mulling a separate damages suit against the government, arguing the state’s “crime” against him demands greater accountability. As Japan’s fifth postwar death row acquittal, Hakamada’s case fuels calls to rethink a justice system critics say clings to a 99% conviction rate and archaic retrial barriers.