Japanese prisons face swelling elderly population

ONOMICHI, Japan | Handrails run down the middle of the hallway to help prisoners make their way from one end to the other. Adult diapers are neatly stacked in a corner. When an inmate chokes on his rice and coughs, a supervisor rushes over to rub his back.

Welcome to the world of old-age prisons. Japan’s population is aging faster than any other country’s, and with that has come an even sharper rise in elderly inmates.

The number of Japanese prisoners age 60 or older has doubled over the past decade to more than 10,000. That outpaces a 30 percent increase in the general population for that age group. The elderly represent 16 percent of the nation’s inmates.

Though Japan’s crime rate remains relatively low, the spike in elderly crime is another sign of the social and economic strains on the once-confident country.

An entire floor has been converted into a pilot geriatric ward at Onomichi Prison near the city of Hiroshima. The government has invested $100 million to build larger facilities at three other prisons around the country, and more are planned.

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An elderly prisoner at Onomichi performs his daily labor. Accommodations for the ... more >

Most of the inmates have been convicted of shoplifting and theft, reflecting the financial pressures and lack of family support facing many older Japanese amid a lengthy economic slump and fraying social cohesion.

About half are repeat offenders, including some who steal to get caught and return to the relative security of prison, where at least shelter — if spartan — and three meals a day, as well as a twice-weekly bath, are guaranteed.

“I’m already an old man, and the economy is bad out there,” a nearly 70-year-old inmate told the Associated Press, which was granted a rare tour of a Japanese prison.

His 3&189;-year sentence for attempted robbery is up in April, and the prospect of going free fills him with more dread than joy.

“I’m worried that there would be no work for someone like me,” he said, adding that he worries that his younger brother may shun him. Prison rules forbid using his name and exact age.

Another factor is that longer sentences are being imposed. Also, elderly inmates without family or community ties have virtually no chance of parole, which is granted only for those with a reliable guardian.

“The number of senior inmates has been surging, and there is no sign of decrease,” said Koki Maezawa, a Justice Ministry official in charge of prison services. “It’s a serious problem that the entire society must tackle so that offenders don’t keep coming back to prison once they get out.”

The graying of the prison population is not unique to Japan, though it’s happening faster here than in other countries, according to the Justice Ministry.

In the United States, the number of inmates age 55 and older in state and federal prisons grew 76 percent between 1999 and 2008, from 43,300 to 76,400, according to the Justice Department. The overall prison population rose by a smaller 18 percent. Those age 60 or older numbered 35,900, or 2.3 percent of the total, a much smaller proportion than in Japan.

The U.S. growth is in part a legacy of laws that mandated harsher sentences or abolished parole, keeping convicts in prison into old age. It has strained government budgets because of the higher health care costs for elderly inmates.

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