Surprising Truth: Why Many Inmates in Japan are Elderly?
“If I steal and don’t get caught, I get free food or money. But if I get caught in jail, I get a place to live and eat for free 3 times a day. Whichever it is, it’s good for me”
Perhaps surprisingly for some, many elderly in Japan (over the age of 65) like to be criminals. The offense they committed not serious, but a minor crime such as stealing a bicycle, threatening people with a knife, stealing and so on.
Interestingly, statistics also show that crimes committed by the elderly have doubled since 1995 and the trend is increasing over the years.
But why?
First of all, most of these elderly do not have enough money to continue living normally.
When you live long enough but too old, there is no work that can be done and the pension money may not be enough to cover the cost of daily living.
So the easiest solution, is to commit a petty crime and go to prison. When you go to prison, you get the “privilege” of not paying the rent, water bills, electricity bills and most importantly, you can eat for free 3 times a day.
Another reason is, they don’t want to bother their children.
This is sad. It is actually related to the Japanese “culture of shame”. No matter what, they don’t want to bother other people, even their own children. Otherwise, they feel very useless and losers.
That’s why these elderly are willing to commit petty crimes so that they can go to prison. So they don’t have to bother their children to take care of them or give them money. Thing like this is difficult to change because it’s already ingrained in their culture.
Another factor is, most of these elderly are living alone.
These people no longer have a place in the society. So the easiest solution is to go to prison. At least in the prison, there are friends they can talk and chat.
So don’t be surprised if the Japanese government has to spend a lot to improve facilities in special prisons for the elderly, such as old people’s signs, handrail holders and some other facilities. For the record, near Fuchu prison, just outside Tokyo, one -third of the inmates are elderly.
Surprising?
But it is the sad truth.
