Demographic winter: the number of inmates aged 60 and over double in South Korea
The number of older inmates rose from 2,801 to 6,504 between 2014 and 2023, from 8.4 per cent to 17.1 per cent. For South Korea’s political class, this emergency is a low priority because it is not a vote-getter; yet, the system risks collapse from inaction. The aging inmate population is also reflected in the aging of prison guards, three quarter of whom are aged 40 and 50.
Seoul (AsiaNews) - The rapid aging of South Korea’s population is causing radical changes in many sectors of society and prisons seem to be no exception.
According to the Ministry of Justice's annual report on prisons, released today, the number of prisoners aged 60 or over was 6,504 last year, up from 2,801 in 2014, with their share of the total prison population more than doubled, from 8.4 per cent to 17.1 per cent in a decade.
This means that today one in six prisoners is 60 years old or older, which does not bode well for the overall system, already grappling with many other serious issues, expert warn.
As the age and number of inmates rise, new challenges are expected; for example, a larger share of the prison population will likely suffer from cognitive decline, including dementia, a condition more common in seniors. Some inmates may need wheelchairs or other physical assistance to move inside prison facilities.
Given that the government has a legal obligation to provide adequate healthcare, at least in principle, to cope with this change, major reforms are needed, experts say, in more than 50 correctional institutions scattered around the country.
“All this could mean significantly higher medical costs for prisoners,” an inspector at the National Human Rights Commission of Korea told The Korea Times. “That is becoming a major problem as the size of the medical staff responsible for their health isn’t keeping up due to low wages and frequent lawsuits from prisoners among other reasons.”
Despite its seriousness and urgency, aging has been largely ignored by politicians, who see little incentive or return in terms of votes and support in addressing it. However, neglecting it, they are evading their responsibilities, and the main purpose of incarceration, namely rehabilitation, helping criminals to reform their behaviour and reintegrate into society.
In recent months, five bills related to prison issues have been tabled in Parliament, but none concerns the aging inmate population.
Park Soon-yong, a senior prison officer at the Daejeon Regional Correction Headquarters, has a few ideas to improve the system.
One is to develop more effective educational programmes for older inmates. Another suggestion is to build new facilities for senior prisoners run by prison officers who are trained to handle and educate this group of people.
“But establishing new facilities exclusively for elderly prisoners costs a considerable amount of money,” Park says. “Also, such a move could draw complaints and concerns from those who think the prison system would be turned into some sort of a nursing facility. To address such issues, there should be a social consensus on the policy direction in terms of how to treat older inmates.”
An aging prison population reflects broader trends in a country where the birthrate has been persistently low for years, harbinger of a coming demographic winter.
The Ministry of Justice annual report also notes that the number of prison officers aged 40 to 50 represented almost 75 per cent of the total in 2023.
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12/02/2016 15:14
10/09/2022 14:17
