Growing number of offenders unable to pay fines, end up in jail

This problem just goes to show there are too many over zealous cops out there. Putting someone in prison for a 15000 yen ($160) fine? Bloody ridiculous when you consider it costs an average $300 per day, of tax payer's money, to keep a prisoner behind bars!

Now i understand why so many young people want to be arrested. Earning Y5000 a day inside prison walls is far better than working as a part-timer or being without a job. And so far tax payer's money is concerned, we all know how carefully it is used in Japan. In short, most of the crimes are due financial hardships, so it is understood the offenders will be not able to pay fine in cash.

According to MOJ, the cost for an inmate is only ¥1310. However, based on other information available on the MOJ website, it appears the actual cost is closer to ¥6700 per day. Either way, that is far less than $300 per day.

Regardless of the actual cost of imprisonment, the fact that there were more than 7,000 people who could not afford to pay their fines in 2006, when the average fine was only ¥350000 (at 2006 exchange rates, less than $3,500) is evidence of serious problems with the Japanese economy and/or the Japanese social welfare structure.

taikan...you forget about the amounts it costs to pay salaries to prison guards, administrators who write daily records (and they do) of each prisoner, overheads such as electricity, toiletries and prison clothes...they all add up a damn site more than ￥6700 per day!

Youdontknow -- According to MOJ, the total budget for penal systems for 2007 was approximately ¥196.4 billion. The average daily population was 80,335 inmates. If you divide ¥196.4 billion by 80,335 you get ¥2,444,763 per year as the average cost per inmate. Divide that by 365 and you ¥6698 per inmate per day as the cost of the system.

They should just take away the driver`s license until the person can pay the bill or let them do community service, but not send them to jail. Jail/prison should only be a place for real criminals, not a place for paying off traffic tickets.