The numbers of elderly people in Japan who deliberately commit legal violations, not in search of crime, but asking to escape from a bitter reality that includes deadly unit and extreme poverty.
In an unconventional scene, many of them prefer to enter prisons to live in the outside world, perhaps life inside the prison walls provides them with the safety and care they lack abroad.
Japan prisons .. shelter for elderly people instead of life on the street
According to the statement of the officer, Takayoshi Shirana, to CNN, some women do not mind paying money to live in prisons, as they find a shelter of cold and disease, and free medical treatment that can no longer bear its costs after leaving the penal institution.
This desire to stay inside the prison, despite the nature of cruelty and deprivation, reveals the depth of the social problem facing the elderly in Japan.
The sounds of female prisoners .. Akio and Yoko and their world inside the prisons
Akio, a 81 -year -old woman, found in prison a more stable haven than she was putting abroad. Akio says: There are very good people here. This life may be the most stable for me. Her words show the size of the suffering that many live, especially those who suffer from isolation or loss of hope in life.
Yuko, who has been imprisoned five times due to drug use, reveals a painful reality: a lot of female prisoners do only bad things to be able to return to prison, because they have nothing outside.
Elderly poverty in Japan … the crime of theft as a solution to escape poverty
Government figures indicate that more than 80% of elderly prisoners in Japan are in prison on charges of theft. These crimes are the only way to survive, as about 20% of the elderly in Japan suffer from poverty, which reflects the social crisis facing a large group of elderly people who have no shelter or an income source.
Japanese prisons turn into a care role … from punishment to caring for the elderly
While the number of elderly female prisoners in Japan is increasing, prisons began to turn into a more careful and less careful place, as the diapers are changed, and medical and psychological support is provided to them. Some prisons have become more likely to care for the elderly than being places of sanctions, which reflects the extent of the shift of the prison system in Japan.
Some reports indicate that the absence of family support from the elderly prisoners increases their complexity. While the Japanese government is struggling to provide greater support for the elderly people with neglect, there are still many prisoners who are isolated after they leave the prisons. This fact highlights the necessity of strengthening social and societal support for these elderly people who have no place in the outside world.
The steps of the Japanese government … support and guidance programs for the elderly after prison
The Japanese authorities have recognized the challenges facing the elderly after leaving prisons. Hence the efforts of the Ministry of Social Welfare to enhance early support and seek to launch programs aimed at rehabilitating elderly female prisoners, including providing independent life assistance and family relations, as well as fighting drug addiction.
