No really, it’s true. In 2015, over 47,000 or almost 20 per cent of people arrested or interrogated by police in the country were aged 65 or older – up from just 5.8 per cent in 2000.
70 per cent were imprisoned for petty crimes such as shoplifting and theft, according to the National Police Agency.
It’s even forced the recent refurbishment of a prison in Hokkaido with ramps and handrails to accommodate more elderly criminals, the first of its kind in the country.
So what’s behind the senior crime wave?
Poverty and isolation to blame
Police are blaming social isolation and poverty among the increasing elderly population. It’s estimated around one in five Japanese senior citizens lives below the poverty line.
“If you are arrested, you still get a roof over your head, you’re fed three times a day and you get health check-ups. So it’s sort of a win-win situation either way,” researcher Yuki Shinko told NPR.
Caring for elderly prisoners has become such a problem, the government has now approved a plan to have nursing home staff in about half of Japan’s 70 prisons from April onwards at a cost of 58 million yen (about AUD$675,000).
It’s forward planning for them – around 70 per cent of its elderly offenders are back behind bars within five years.
In Australia, we have our own wings for the elderly too – ex-cop and convicted murderer Roger Rogerson made headlines last month when it was revealed the 75-year-old had been given a keyboard by prison management which he was using to entertain other inmates in the senior wing at Sydney’s Long Bay gaol.
