In Japan, the number of elderly in prisons has quadrupled in the last two decades, as a growing number of women over the age of 65 are choosing to stay in jail due to loneliness, poverty, and lack of family support, with many being incarcerated for theft as a means of survival. As some Japanese prisons provide free healthcare, meals, and companionship for elderly inmates, these resources can create a life that is more stable for the elderly than the one they might live outside. Moreover, as they are not provided with adequate help or caregivers once they leave prison, many former elderly inmates struggle with re-adjusting to a normal life, thus returning to committing crimes and further exacerbating the rising elderly prison population.