Japan’s elderly prefer life in prison

A geriatric crime wave has broken out as older people value the free food and accommodation in prison, compared with the hardship they face outside

TOKYO // Every day is the same. He wakes at 6.45am, eats breakfast 20 minutes later and reports for work at 8am sharp.

But this is not your typical Japanese wage slave.

This is a man in his 80s and he is in prison – but a jail that provides a structured regime and a certainty that he is hesitant about ever leaving.

“I don’t know what kind of life I should lead after I get out. I’ll be worried about my health and financial situation,” the inmate said from Tokyo’s Fuchu prison where he is serving time for attempted theft.

His case is far from unique – Japan is in the middle of a geriatric crime wave, and its prisons look like nursing homes.

The situation has become so dire that the government approved a plan to send nursing care staff to about half of the country’s 70 prisons from April, allocating a budget of ¥58 million (Dh1.86m).

In 2015, almost 20 per cent of those who were arrested or interrogated by police were 65 or older – up from 5.8 per cent in 2000, according to the national police agency.

Most are jailed for petty crime such as shoplifting and theft.

The rise in senior crime is attributed to increased economic hardship, an ageing population and greed, according to a 2013 report by the agency.

“It’s a problem that the work of prison officers is becoming more like nursing care,” says justice ministry official Shinsuke Nishioka, contrasting it with the traditional task of ensuring the incarcerated do not escape.

Officers at Fuchu, the country’s biggest men-only jail, have to change nappies for some prisoners and help them to bathe.

As part of the plan to tackle the issue, authorities have also approved a plan to send fitness experts to more prisons to cater to the needs of older inmates.

Prison life in Japan is far from easy – talking is forbidden at work, inmates must walk single file and bathing is restricted.

Life is monotonous, yet many prefer the certainty of the regime – here they have shelter, food and medical care – to life on the outside.

“At least in prison they have a roof over their head and guaranteed meals,” says Tina Maschi, associate professor at Fordham university graduate school of social service.

Yukie Kuwahara, in charge of prisoner welfare at Fuchu, says inmates tend to feel anxious as the day to leave approaches. “They don’t have to worry about day-to-day things inside prison,” she says.

The tendency to repeat offences is high for the over 65s. According to government data, about 70 per cent of elderly offenders are back behind bars within five years. “The reason many older ex-convicts return to prison is because it’s difficult for them to be financially independent,” sa ys Akio Doteuchi, a senior researcher at NLI research institute in Tokyo.

“Securing housing and a job after going back into society is extremely difficult. And they’re isolated socially as more and more people are living alone.”

Halfway houses have been set up to help former convicts in their early days of freedom.

One such place – Tokyo’s Ryozenkai – provides healthy elderly former prisoners with computer training, classes in manners and daily dinner during their 16-week stay.

Having a bridge between prison and the outside world can make all the difference.

“Life is tougher on the outside,” says one former offender. Now in her 60s, she served 15 years of a murder sentence before being released. She says everything had changed in society, such as mobile phones and automated ticket turnstiles at train and subway stations.

She got a cleaning job after joining a halfway house and believes she has turned a corner in her life, vowing never to return to prison.

“I want to work more regularly so that I can pay part of my earnings to the victim’s family.”