Lt. Ridge Alkonis, a naval officer imprisoned in Japan after killing two members of a Japanese family in a car crash, was on his way to the United States on Wednesday after a yearslong diplomatic effort to bring him home him, Biden administration officials said. .
Lt. Alkonis, 35, was released from prison after serving half his sentence for negligent driving. Under the terms of the International Prisoner Transfer Program, established by a treaty between the United States and Japan, he would likely continue to serve his sentence in the United States, administration officials said.
The length of his incarceration will be set by the U.S. Parole Board, an agency independent of the Justice Department, officials said. The commission could reduce his sentence or allow him to serve part of it in home detention. Lt. Alkonis will remain in U.S. custody until the commission makes its decision.
The case involving Lieutenant Alkonis, a sailor stationed at the Yokosuka naval base, south of Tokyo, began in May 2021, when the minivan he was driving near Mount Fuji crashed into the parking lot of a restaurant in noodles, killing two people.
The consequences since the accident have tense diplomatic relations between Japan and the United States, with Lt. Alkonis’ family and supporters insisting that he suffered from altitude sickness and was denied due process in a foreign justice system that placed little weight on his guilty plea and repeated apologies.
In Japan, however, Lieutenant Alkonis is widely considered a criminal whose actions cost the lives of two innocent people. The court, which ruled that he had fallen asleep after driving while drowsy, followed the wishes of the victims’ family to give him a “severe sentence” in this case, sending the American to three years in prison.
Officials said President Biden was personally involved in the discussions that led to the lieutenant’s release. But officials called the conversation highly sensitive because the president and his top aides did not want to insult the Japanese government by suggesting they did not respect the country’s justice system and its need for accountability.
Lieutenant Alkonis’ family mounted a long campaign to bring him home. Members of Congress joined the effort, arguing that he had a medical emergency while driving and should not be held responsible for the resulting deaths.
In a statement, the family thanked the Biden administration and expressed optimism that Lt. Alkonis would be released after his case is reviewed in the United States.
“After 507 days, Lieutenant Ridge Alkonis is on his way back to the United States. We are encouraged by Ridge’s return to the United States, but we cannot celebrate until Ridge is reunited with his family,” the family said in a statement to The Associated Press. “When the Biden administration is presented with the full set of facts and circumstances surrounding the case, we are confident that it will quickly recognize the absurdity of Ridge’s conviction.”
Sen. Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, led the effort to demand the sailor’s return. He repeatedly threatened to push for a reconsideration of the U.S.-Japan military cooperation agreement if the country did not allow Lt. Alkonis to return.
“If you transfer Lt. Alkonis to the United States before midnight on February 28, 2023, we will do our best to forget that any of this ever happened,” Mr. Lee wrote in February. “It will be hard, but we will try.”
Administration officials said Mr. Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, personally worked with Japanese officials to secure the lieutenant’s return. Mr Biden raised the issue with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a visit to the White House in January.
But U.S. officials said the release was not negotiated as it would have been for a hostage exchange with an adversary. Instead, the details of Lt. Alkonis’ release — and what will happen to him in the United States — have been strictly determined by the prisoner transfer treaty and the U.S. laws establishing it.
The program, which began in 1977, was designed to facilitate prisoners’ rehabilitation, which is often difficult when they are held in other countries where they do not speak the language, officials said. Transfers are only carried out with the agreement of both countries and the prisoner.
Two weeks ago, after the two governments reached an agreement, a U.S. official traveled to Japan to obtain Lt. Alkonis’ consent and ensure he understood the terms.
Officials said the Biden administration offered to provide information to the Parole Board about Lt. Alkonis’ service records and anything else they requested. But the officials stressed that, by law, neither the White House nor Justice Department officials had a role in the commission’s decision.
The officials also said the United States did not exchange prisoners or provide anything in return to Japan.
The decision to bring back Lt. Alkonis did not change his conviction in Japan, officials said, and it did not mean the Biden administration was challenging the court’s findings there.
Since taking office, Mr. Biden has directed his national security team to focus on repatriating Americans detained abroad. In most cases, these were people designated as “wrongfully detained” by the adversaries. Those included Brittney Griner, an American basketball player arrested in Russia; five Americans who had been imprisoned in Iran; and several oil executives who had been detained in Venezuela.
Officials said several prisoners were also transferred to the United States from friendlier countries.
