Society Japan's elderly face isolation: some women seek jail time

Japan's ageing doesn't stop at prison walls: CNN on elderly Japanese women, who - when facing social isolation and poverty - prefer the company of inmates.


Theft is by far the most common crime committed by elderly inmates, especially among women. In 2022, more than 80% of elderly female inmates nationwide were in jail for stealing, according to government figures. Some do it for survival – 20% of people over 65 in Japan live in poverty, according to the OECD, compared to an average of 14.2% across 38 member countries. Others do it because they have so little left on the outside. "There are people who come here because it's cold or because they're hungry," said Shiranaga, the prison guard. Those who fall ill "can get free medical treatment while they are in prison, but once they leave, they have to pay for it themselves, so some people want to stay here as long as possible."

Across Japan, the number of prisoners aged 65 or older nearly quadrupled from 2003 to 2022 – and it's changed the nature of incarceration. "Now we have to change their diapers, help them bathe, eat," Shiranaga said. "At this point, it feels more like a nursing home than a prison full of convicted criminals." Part of the problem for former inmates is a lack of support once they re-enter society, said Megumi, a prison guard at Tochigi, who CNN is identifying by her first name only for privacy. "Even after they are released and return to normal life, they don't have anybody to look after them," she said. "There are also people who have been abandoned by their families after repeatedly committing crimes, they have no place to belong." [...] The elderly population is ballooning so fast that Japan will require 2.72 million care workers by 2040, according to the government – which is now scrambling to encourage more people to enter the industry, and to import foreign workers to fill the gaps.

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That's evident in Tochigi, where officers "actively ask (inmates) with nursing qualifications to provide nursing care" for other elderly prisoners, Megumi said. Yoko, the 51-year-old inmate, is one such caregiver, having gotten her qualifications during her last sentence. Now, when there aren't enough prison staff caring for the elderly, she helps other inmates bathe, change their clothes and move around, she said.

The video in the other thread mentions this and shows one woman in this category.