In 2009, Wang Feng's song 'Spring Residence' was sung across the Five Provinces and Municipalities. In the song, Wang Teacher's torn voice expressed the melancholy and bleakness of life, contrasting with the exuberant vitality of spring, making people feel incredibly sad.

Especially the last few sentences, if one day I become infirm and helpless, please let me remain in this spring, if one day I quietly depart, please bury me in this spring. These sentences have become classics, and have been sung by people today.

If we one day become infirm and helpless, where do we go? Most answers are nursing homes, but in Japan. Some old grandmothers discovered a better place, that is, prison.

Japanese prison 'Grandma Criminals' are full

Japan is widely recognized as a country with the lowest crime rate, but in recent years, a group of elderly people, especially old grandmothers, have continuously and proactively committed crimes into prison. According to Japanese official statistics, the number of elderly female criminals in Japan has increased sharply in recent years, and more than a quarter of Japanese female criminals are over 60 years old.

They frequently repeat crimes, and the crimes are mostly minor, often telling store clerks that they have stolen, urging them to report it. When police take them away, they can't help but smile with pleasure.

Why do they so yearn for prison, willing to lose freedom and dignity?

1. Loneliness

76-year-old Grandma Ling, is already the third time she has been incarcerated, and each time she is accused of theft. Back in her day, she was a successful woman, in charge of a technology company, which was rare in Japan.

After retirement, especially after her husband's death, she fell into endless loneliness, as she said, it was a heart-wrenching sadness. Shortly thereafter, she had psychological problems, wanting to play games, unconsciously stealing things to see what the result would be. When she entered the prison, she suddenly realized that many people were accompanying her, didn't need to do any hard labor, she felt very comfortable.

2. Poverty

85-year-old Grandma Zhi was a barmaid in her youth. Because her wages were low and she didn't pay social security, her savings ran out, and no one was willing to help her, including her children. With no way out, she had to go to steal things, and eventually succeeded in entering prison.

Let's take a look at the treatment that Japanese prisons can provide for these 'Grandma Criminals'

1. Companionship

Those lonely old women discovered that there were many people accompanying them, including other elderly criminals, young female offenders, and police officers.

Elderly criminals can chat together, watch TV together, and participate in simple outdoor activities. Labor is only simple handicraft work. They can also go to karaoke, play bowling. These are things they could never imagine in their free lives.

Young female offenders are often asked to accompany old offenders to prevent them from falling into loneliness. Police officers who guard them speak in a friendly manner, and they will give birthday cakes to the elderly criminals if they meet some reasonable and legitimate requests.

2. Diet

The diet here is not luxurious, but basically nutritional meals, customized diets are arranged for hypertensive and diabetic elderly people.

3. Health

As soon as she entered the prison, all elderly criminals had to undergo a medical examination, the examination items were complete, including psychological tests. Many elderly people were found to have symptoms of elderly dementia, but she herself didn't know.

For elderly criminals with chronic diseases, the prison employs doctors and physical therapists to actively treat them. If there are elderly criminals who cannot move independently, special nurses will be assigned to take care of them, and young female offenders will be trained as nurses to provide special care.

And Japan's law stipulates that once you enter the prison, your pension can be reduced by half and paid, many elderly criminals consider entering the prison as a way to earn money.

Old people happily enter the prison, but it has caused a headache for the Japanese government. Every year, it costs more than $50 million to accommodate these elderly criminals.

'Grandma Criminals' are full in the prison, which reflects the unspoken loneliness and pain of elderly people. Some elderly people who refuse to give up dignity and don't want to endure loneliness choose to commit suicide, as if longevity has become a curse in life.

Ways for elderly people to relieve loneliness

From a global trend, developed countries and some developing countries are entering an aging society, including China. How to relieve the loneliness of the elderly has become a global issue. Many countries encourage elderly people to take the following methods to get rid of loneliness:

1. Group living, some elderly people of the same age live together and take care of each other, it's easy to chat and participate in sports, making elderly life more colorful.

2. Develop hobbies, once a person has a strong interest, loneliness will no longer be a problem, he will devote most of his energy to his hobbies, his spirit will be full, life is full of sunshine.

3. Forget that you are an old man, with the advent of the Internet, many work and entertainment can be done at home, some elderly people can temporarily abandon their identity and continue working or playing at home, which can help them get rid of loneliness.

Some countries entering an aging society, young labor force is seriously short, some elderly people who are willing to work can re-enter society, forget loneliness.

There are many ways to help the elderly get rid of loneliness, here we will not list them one by one. Of course, we should all pay attention to the elderly and focus on the mental health of the elderly.Finally, I wish all elderly people in the world can enjoy old age and happiness.