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Japan's Prisons Are a Haven for Elderly Women
Every aging society faces distinct challenges. But Japan, with the world's oldest population (27.3 percent of its citizens are 65 or older, almost twice the share in the U.S.), has been dealing with one it didn't foresee: senior crime. Complaints and arrests involving elderly people, and women in particular, are taking place at rates above those of any other demographic group. Almost 1 in 5 women in Japanese prisons is a senior. Their crimes are usually minor—9 in 10 senior women who've been convicted were found guilty of shoplifting.
Why have so many otherwise law-abiding elderly women resorted to petty theft? Caring for Japanese seniors once fell to families and communities, but that's changing. From 1980 to 2015, the number of seniors living alone increased more than sixfold, to almost 6 million. And a 2017 survey by Tokyo's government found that more than half of seniors caught shoplifting live alone; 40 percent either don't have family or rarely speak with relatives. These people often say they have no one to turn to when they need help.
[...] Neither the government nor the private sector has established an effective rehabilitation program for seniors, and the costs to keep them in prison are rising fast. Expenses associated with elder care helped push annual medical costs at correctional facilities past 6 billion yen (more than $50 million) in 2015, an 80 percent increase from a decade before. Specialized workers have been hired to help older inmates with bathing and toileting during the day, but at night these tasks are handled by guards.
At some facilities, being a correctional officer has come to resemble being a nursing-home attendant. Satomi Kezuka, a veteran officer at Tochigi Women's Prison, about 60 miles north of Tokyo, says her duties now include dealing with incontinence. "They are ashamed and hide their underwear," she says of the inmates. "I tell them to bring it to me, and I will have it washed." More than a third of female correctional officers quit their jobs within three years.
[...] [Ms. N, age 80:] "I can't tell you how much I enjoy working in the prison factory. The other day, when I was complimented on how efficient and meticulous I was, I grasped the joy of working. I regret that I never worked. My life would have been different. I enjoy my life in prison more. There are always people around, and I don't feel lonely here. When I got out the second time, I promised that I wouldn't go back. But when I was out, I couldn't help feeling nostalgic."
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by looorg on Monday March 26 2018, @01:59PM (2 children)
It's not a bad idea(*), there is the slight risk that some would be hero pulls a gun and shots you tho. That said to make sure you get a max sentence have a gun or a weapon of your own, wave it around a bit in a threatening manner and then also make some verbal death threats. You probably dont want to over do it tho so they start to think that you lost your marbles cause then it might be an asylum instead of a prison. That probably isn't as nice as prison, even tho the drugs might be better.
You want something with a harsh penalty, but also probably something that causes minimal harm to others -- unless that is your thing, if it is you might as well just shoot someone. Being on Death-row might be the ultimate in pampering tho, someone monitors your 24/7 and you dont have to hang around with any of the normal lowlife scum. Kidnapping is in that way a bit much. Unless you just take someone and drive them across a state border and then get caught. Being a big-time drugdealer or cooking your own meth or something might work to. An alternative would be to start sending death threats to whatever is the leader of your nation, those get investigated for sure.
(*) except that it's a horrible idea and a sure sign that something is utterly fucked with your country if going to prison is better then going to a senior citizens living facility.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by NotSanguine on Monday March 26 2018, @02:15PM (1 child)
Actually, you don't want to be extra violent or use a weapon. If you're considered non-violent/non-threatening, you have a better chance of being housed at a minimum security facility, which is generally less violent and more like an assisted living facility.
I never said it was *better* I said it was cheaper. And if prison is not as good as a cheap assisted living facility, it's not all that much worse.
Yes, I am aware as to what that says about the US. And no, I don't think it's a particularly good thing. There are a lot of moving parts to fixing that. Given that we can't even get an annual budget implemented, I'm not holding my breath.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by looorg on Monday March 26 2018, @02:35PM
I guess it depends on what you want. If you are non-violent then you may get a shorter sentence, it might be in a nicer place but you probably won't be there for very long. As noted I don't suggest you actually kill or hurt anyone but having a weapon or destroying a bit of property is normally according to the sentencing guidelines an increase in sentence.
If one skips back to the article about the old Japanese women, they all got between 2-3 years in prison for repeated acts of shoplifting or some form of minor theft. Seems most of them had been in and out of the system a few times. I guess if you live in a three-strikes-states that might work to otherwise it seems like a bit of a pain if you just do minor crimes, you might not even get sentenced to prison but get one of them ankle monitors and then be forced to live on the outside, which is not what they wanted. So there might be a limit here as to how violent or how much of a threat to society you have to be to actually go to prison.
It is probably different from time to time and place to place but the sentence for shoplifting is probably not a very long time in prison in general, unless you are a repeat offender or you somehow really up your game.