5 July 2007 :: by Yasuo Ota and
Etsuko Akuzawa
A 57-year-old woman from Oita had spent years living
on the streets and been repeatedly in and out of prison.
One time, after serving out a sentence, she found herself
with little money and no place to go.
After living outdoors, she decided on a sure way to
find accommodation: She set fire to a car.
"I didn't like being a homeless person. I thought I
could return to prison if I set a fire," she said.
The woman is representative of the many criminals with
mental disabilities who have fallen through the cracks of
the social safety net.
Welfare support is available to these released inmates
with mental disabilities, but it can be extremely
difficult to obtain. Their recidivism rate is high
because many cannot receive help to make a living and
adapt to society. Many say they have repeated their
crimes because prison cells are the only places where
they can stay.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare set up a
research group a year ago to find ways to offer aftercare
to these high-need offenders. But fixing the system will
be an uphill battle.
Criminologist Koichi Hamai, a professor at Ryukoku
University, said he was flabbergasted by the realities of
the system when he worked with inmates at a prison from
2000 to 2003.
The inmates he dealt with were mostly seniors with
physical or mental disabilities, including dementia.
"You find people who have no place in society
quartered in our prisons," Hamai said. "The growing trend
is to de-institutionalize the disabled, but only the
location has changed. They are now segregated in
prisons."
Of the 33,000 new prison inmates in 2005, 22.5 percent
had an IQ of less than 70--which classifies them as
mentally disabled.
A welfare ministry research group surveyed 410 inmates
classified as or believed to be mentally disabled.
Thirty-seven percent cited "difficulty in making a
living" as the motive for their crimes. Of the 285 repeat
offenders, half of them said they did not have a place to
stay in the outside world.
Only 6 percent were in possession of a ryoiku techo
certificate that makes them eligible for public
disability pensions or welfare support in group
homes.
The 57-year-old firestarter, who has a mild mental
disability, also lacked a ryoiku techo certificate.
After graduating from junior high school, she found a
job, got married and divorced, and became homeless in her
40s.
When she was released in May after serving her
18-month term for the arson, she found a different
life.
In February, the Nanko Airinkai welfare group for
disabled people based in Unzen, Nagasaki Prefecture,
began visiting the woman in prison. The group director is
Yoshiaki Tajima, who heads the welfare ministry research
group.
Nanko Airinkai sought out the woman as a test case to
get the needy in touch with public welfare.
Oita city authorities wanted proof that she had mental
disabilities before turning 18 years old. Finding the
40-year-old evidence was difficult, but in June, the
group found the woman's brother, who vouched that she was
showing signs of her disability in elementary school.
She was able to apply for her certificate. Others are
not so fortunate.
In developed countries, an estimated 2 percent of
their populations have mental disabilities. Therefore,
there should be 2.5 million disabled people in Japan. But
only 500,000 hold certificates.
Many forego applying for a certificate because they do
not want to be officially labeled "disabled."
In addition, the criteria for issuing the certificates
is left to the discretion of local governments. In many
cases, authorities demand evidence that the disability
emerged before the age of 18. That kind of proof can be
impossible to find.
There are also problems for those who do enter the
system.
In Yao, Osaka Prefecture, a 41-year old man suffering
minor mental disabilities was arrested and indicted on
charges of attempted murder for throwing a 3-year-old boy
from an overpass in January.
The man had been in and out of prison for abducting
children. His MO was always the same: He would snatch a
child, ride a train together and appear at a police box a
few hours later to be arrested.
When the man left prison in summer 1999, he began
working at a self-help workshop in Yao. City authorities
did not notify the workshop about the man's criminal
record, saying it was "the ultimate personal
information."
The head of the workshop only found out about the
employee's problem when he was arrested for the sixth
time in 2000 for abducting a child.
After his release, the workshop ensured a "helper"
would supervise the man on weekends to prevent
recidivism.
The man was initially classified as having a grade 2
disability under the law for supporting people with
disabilities. Services are provided for all disabled
people classified under the system.
But the system tends to provide less support for
people with mental disabilities because the emphasis is
placed on a person's degree of independence and physical
ability.
Although the man's classification was eventually
upgraded to grade 3, he was eligible for only 50 to 70
minutes of support and care a day--on a group basis.
Under the independence support law, prefectural
independence support centers have been set up to allow
any disabled person who displays problem behavior to move
in. Group consultations involving psychotherapists and
doctors are held to devise individual support plans for
the disabled people.
The centers must first receive a petition from a
municipal government before the mentally disabled person
is let in.
The man became emotionally unbalanced last summer, and
the head of the workshop wrote to the city, asking for a
private support plan.
But the city failed to file a petition and the
3-year-old boy was thrown off the overpass.
"There are plenty of welfare measures for the mentally
disabled in the fields of education and child welfare.
But that ends at 18," Hiroshi Shojima, professor of
clinical psychology at Fukushima University Graduate
School of Education, said. "From the viewpoint of social
security, we need to provide support for the silent
mentally disabled who won't come forward with their
needs."
Source
The
Asahi Shimbun
