Prisons becoming like elderly care homes

February 20, 2018

Kobe- The Japanese government has started programs in cooperation with municipalities to make living environments friendlier for elderly former convicts, in order to halt increases in returns to prison by them.

The number of prison inmates has been decreasing across Japan, but some 70 percent of those aged 65 and older are returnees, according to the Justice Ministry.

In a bid to prevent the reoffending of crimes, the government adopted a target in 2012 of cutting the share of criminals returning to prison within two years of release by 20 percent in 10 years.

According to the 2017 report on crimes released by the ministry, however, 23.2 percent of elderly inmates found themselves back behind bars within two years of release. The proportion was higher than among younger criminals.

Older former convicts reoffend due largely to hardships they experience in life after prison, such as the absence of families or other people they can rely on, mental or physical disabilities, and the lack of job opportunities and savings. Some criminals even commit petty crimes, such as shoplifting, to be arrested so that they get food, shelter and clothing in prison.

An increase in elderly inmates imposes greater burdens on prison workers. It is also a significant waste of taxpayers' money, as the care of each elderly inmate costs some 3 million yen a year, five to six times more than in ordinary nursing care homes.

In fiscal 2009, the government started a program to provide community wide support for selected elderly former convicts, including recommendations on hospitals and nursing care facilities, in cooperation with probation offices. But many of them lack the mental readiness or skills for rehabilitation into society.

Like nursing homes for the elderly, prisons have adopted measures to find or prevent diseases, including dementia, among aged inmates.

Kobe Prison in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, has increased opportunities for physical exercise by elderly inmates. It also has launched an art class in which they are divided into groups of about 10 and create artworks by pasting photos cut out from magazines. During such activities, prison personnel who have studied psychology communicate with them by asking questions.

At Kurobane Prison in Otawara, Tochigi Prefecture, eastern Japan, nurses and caretakers started work for elderly inmates in the summer of last year. Such work used to be done by untrained inmates and detention officers, putting burdens on them.

Detention officers also used to talk with elderly inmates about their health twice a week. But "detention officers tended to be high-handed and see inmates as playing sick," an official at Kurobane Prison said. "Nurses are suited for the role because of the need for the early discovery of dementia." Jiji Press