We all know Japan is under a severe fertility crisis; that they've been dealing with this for years; and that the present result is a demographic winter in which, among other things, families have become tiny if not nonexistent.
But even I didn't think it was this bad👇
Japan's largest women's prison has become home to a growing number of seniors. CNN reported the number of prisoners aged 65 or older nearly quadrupled from 2003 to 2022. Feeling neglected financially and socially, in the wake of a global loneliness epidemic, many older Japanese women are turning to imprisonment to find community and support.
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The companionship offered by prison is the main appeal for these elderly women, along with regular meals, free healthcare and eldercare. And the requirement to work in the prison factories is no deterrent.
When you learn old women who should be cared for by their families are turning to literal jail cells for a bit of comfort:
One prison guard reports that there are women who "will pay 20,000 or 30,000 yen ($130-190) a month (if they can) live here forever."
Akiyo, identified by pseudonym for privacy, is an 81-year-old inmate who was serving time for shoplifting food.
'There are very good people in this prison,' Akiyo told CNN. 'Perhaps this life is the most stable for me.'
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'(Some people) do bad things on purpose and get caught so that they can come to prison again, if they run out of money,' said Yoko, who CNN identified by a pseudonym for privacy.
Some of this flow into prison is being driven by onetime criminals who, upon exiting the clink after serving time for petty crimes, find no support on the outside:
Even after they are released and return to normal life, they don't have anybody to look after them ... There are also people who have been abandoned by their families after repeatedly committing crimes, they have no place to belong.
Remember, folks, the fertility crisis in Japan is worse than you think:
When prison is more appealing than being out in society, you know things are not good.
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