Inmates over the age of 60 at the end of 1999 now account for 14.3 percent of all prisoners at Fuchu Prison, one of the largest correctional facilities in the nation, prison officials said Wednesday.
According to a survey on prisoner profiles conducted by the institution, in western Tokyo, the number of elderly prisoners has risen 5.7 percentage points from 10 years ago, raising the issue of how the state should care for them.
The prison, intended to house men aged at least 26 and serving terms of less than eight years, had 1,759 Japanese inmates at the end of 1999, 253 of whom were over 60, including 55 aged over 70. Of those aged over 60, 82 percent have some kind of illness or are disabled, double the ratio for those under 60.