Government to name special prison for drug offenders<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Still smarting from a recent clash between
\nprisoners in Cipinang prison, Minister of Justice and Human
\nRights Baharuddin Lopa reaffirmed on Tuesday a plan to isolate
\ndrug offenders in a separate penitentiary.<\/p>\n
\"We have planned to keep drug convicts from other prisoners
\nbecause problems occur in penitentiaries, often arising from
\ndisputes between them, and it's difficult to control them all,\"
\nLopa told reporters after the launch of a three-day national
\nmeeting on correctional institutions.<\/p>\n
While Lopa would not identify a specific prison to be used,
\nthe ministry's director general for penitentiaries, Adi Sujatno,
\nsaid that Cirebon penitentiary had been tipped as a special-
\npurpose penitentiary for prisoners convicted of drug-related
\ncrimes.<\/p>\n
\"We consider the Cirebon penitentiary fit for the purpose.
\nThere will be a rehabilitation program for drug-addicted
\nprisoners until they are declared cured. This will also halt drug
\ntrafficking in prisons,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Lopa admitted that commotions had easily broken out in prisons
\nrecently due to a lack of supervision from wardens.<\/p>\n
\"There has been a trend that whenever a fight breaks out
\nbetween inmates, drug offenders in particular always take the
\nopportunity to attack wardens.<\/p>\n
\"We have punished disobedient prisoners ... but it has not
\nworked yet. In one of my impromptu visits to correctional
\ninstitutions I found that the chief was not in his office. I
\nlater discovered that he was drinking in a night club,\" Lopa
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The latest prominent incident involving drug offenders was the
\nriot in Cipinang last month, which left one prisoner killed.<\/p>\n
The unrest erupted as some 60 prison guards and officers from
\nthe police's Mobile Brigade were escorting 50 prisoners, most of
\nwhom had been sentenced for drug offenses, to buses for
\ntransportation to penitentiaries in Tangerang and Cirebon.<\/p>\n
The head of the Tangerang womens prison has proposed to
\nseparate drug convicts from others due to their \"bad\" habits. The
\nplan follows the escape of two drug convicts from that facility.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month police and Tangerang penitentiary wardens
\naborted an attempted escape by five inmates, one of whom is a
\ndrug offender. The prisoners assembled a homemade bomb for
\ndetonation in the prison prior to their planned jailbreak.(bby)<\/p>",
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