Two prisons for women, one each in Gifu and Wakayama prefectures, will start job-training courses in nursing care for the elderly, officials of the prefectural governments said Wednesday.

The prisons were given official designation to start training next April.

An official at the Justice Ministry's Correction Bureau said, "Nursing care jobs match the needs of society and will lend themselves toward nurturing care for others, which in turn will help rehabilitate the prisoners."

Several other prisons in Japan, including one in Tochigi Prefecture, are also applying for recognition as official training facilities for home helpers, the bureau said.

Inmates who wish to become home helpers after their release will receive the necessary qualifications after going through up to 130 hours of training.

The ministry said it hopes to see 10 to 20 inmates at the two prisons qualify as nursing care helpers each year.

But the prison authorities may have problems securing nursing homes that will accept inmates for the necessary on-the-job training.

Home helpers, who provide nursing care by visiting the homes of the elderly, are classified into three categories depending on the number of their training hours. Currently, 170,000 to 180,000 home helpers are estimated to be working throughout Japan.

Since the mid-1990s, several correctional facilities in Japan have offered courses for nursing care-related jobs, and 39 inmates completed them in fiscal 1999.

Other job training courses provided at prisons include those for welders, auto mechanics, beauticians and cooks.