In this country where the conditions of detention are not more ideal than in France, retirees commit crimes to go to prison.
From one country to another, the conditions of detention vary. In France, for example, the situation of prisoners tended to deteriorate over time. As evidenced the annual report On the state of the prisons of the controller general of the places of deprivation of freedom (CGLPL). He noted “records for prison overcrowding in 2023” with 77,450 detainees for 61,570 places in prison.
On the other hand, Japan displays “an incarceration rate and an occupancy rate of the weakest prisons in developed countries,” said Insider prison. There is a proportion of older prisoners among the highest in the world with one in prisoners out of five over 60 years of age. And for good reason: more and more retirees reoffend to return to prison, reports Cnn. “Many of them come back because of the cold or hunger,” said Shiranaga, guardian of the prison for women in Tochigi, north of Tokyo.
In Japan, 25.4 % of over 75s live below the poverty line, compared to 16.1 % for the average of OECD countries according to the International Federation of Little Brothers of the Poor. A precarious situation which increases the feeling of insecurity of the poorest. This is why, when you have to choose between facing an outside world alone or being locked up with people, many of them choose the second option.
The prison offers significant advantages for this aging population: inside, prisoners can feed on their hunger, benefit from care and have the company, which they lack outside. This is the case of Akiyo, a sixty -something man who serves his second sentence behind bars. Questioned by CNN, she says she was imprisoned in the prison center of Tochigi for a display flight. “If I had had a comfortable lifestyle, I would not have done it,” she says.
Theft is the most common crime in the elderly, especially women. In 2022, it concerned more than 80% of senior prisoners, according to the government Japanese. A crowd that has repercussions on the usual prison conditions. “We must now change their diapers, help them take their bath, feed them,” said Shiranaga. At this point, it looks more in a retirement home than in a prison filled with criminals “.
However, the conditions of detentions in Japan are far from ideal. According to A report by the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW)published in 2023, the current Japanese prison system “does not meet the needs of the growing number of elderly prisoners”. The organization denounces in particular insufficient health services and the “arbitrary and prolonged” use of solitary confinement.