Activists claim police cells seriously overcrowded<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Activists from the Anti-Torture Network visited
\non Tuesday the headquarters of the city police and the West,
\nNorth and East Jakarta police, and reported that their detention
\ncells were seriously overcrowded.<\/p>\n
Prisoners are packed into small, dark, fetid detention cells,
\naccording to Sumamihardja, who led a group of 10 activists to the
\nJakarta Police Headquarters.<\/p>\n
The cells at the city police headquarters house 390 prisoners,
\nincluding 189 prisoners transferred from the Attorney General's
\nOffice.<\/p>\n
The North Jakarta Police Headquarters houses 362 prisoners,
\nthe West Jakarta Police Headquarters 346 prisoners and the East
\nJakarta Police Headquarters 91 prisoners -- all beyond their
\ncapacities.<\/p>\n
At the North Jakarta Police Headquarters, each nine-square-
\nmeter detention cell accommodate 19 prisoners on average.<\/p>\n
Doho A. Sastro, who led activists to the East Jakarta Police
\nHeadquarters, said the cells were dark and stuffy and lacked
\nventilation.<\/p>\n
The prisoners are not only packed into small cells, they are
\nalso often tortured by police, especially during questioning,
\naccording to the activists.<\/p>\n
Based on testimony from a number of detainees, Sumamihardja
\nsaid police officers often tortured suspects during questioning
\nin a detective's room, not in the cells.<\/p>\n
As a result of the torture, two men being detained at the
\nJakarta Police Headquarters had to be taken to the Kramat Jati
\nPolice Hospital in East Jakarta for treatment, the activists
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
According to a report from the Commission for Missing Persons
\nand Victims of Violence, there were 908 torture cases recorded in
\nJakarta last year.<\/p>\n
The report said the police allegedly tortured criminal
\nsuspects, non-governmental organization activists, university
\nstudents, journalists, laborers, farmers and others.<\/p>\n
The visit to the police detention cells, organized in
\nconjunction with the United Nations Anti-Torture Day, which fell
\non June 26, was aimed at pressuring the police to reduce or
\nabandon altogether the torture of prisoners, according to the
\nactivists.<\/p>\n
The activists were denied access to detention cells at the
\nSouth and Central Jakarta police headquarters.<\/p>\n
Erna Ratnaningsih, who led the activists, said she was
\ndisappointed that the South and Central Jakarta police chiefs
\nrefused to grant the activists' access to their cells.<\/p>\n
\"I will ask the National Commission on Human Rights to file
\nletters of complaint with the National Police chief and the city
\npolice chief about this matter,\" she told The Jakarta Post. (01)<\/p>",
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