Japanese female prison’s rehabilitation goal faces health, language barriers

Seated in a wheelchair, an elderly woman bends silently as her wrinkled fingers move with surprising speed to fold pieces of coloured origami paper into intricate shapes. Beside her, another woman does the same, both adding their finished pieces to a pile on the table without looking up or exchanging a word. Inside Tochigi Prison, where talking during work is forbidden, elderly women folding paper and sewing in silence reflect a broader test of Japan’s penal system: how to care for ageing,...

By Julian Ryall