126 escapees return to Krobokan prison

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): As many as 126 of 270 escapees have been returned to Bali's Krobokan Penitentiary, while visiting Minister of Law and Legislation Yusril Ihza Mahendra said on Monday nobody was to blame for the incident.

Yusril, who arrived at the penitentiary at 7:30 p.m. local time, said "Don't blame each other. All the wardens did their best despite their shortcomings".

The minister toured the prison complex, including three blocks housing the returned prisoners.

Many of the escapees were caught by the police, but some turned themselves in.

"Have you prayed?" Yusril asked the prisoners, before telling them to consider their jail terms as a test from God. He also told the prisoners to maintain order.

A total of 270 prisoners, not 289 as earlier reported, fled the jail after setting fire to the jail's registration office on Sunday afternoon. The jail is located some five kilometers north of Kuta.

The escape, termed the biggest jailbreak in the area in years, is believed to have been planned. No fatalities were reported.

K. Sindia W, acting head of the penitentiary, some five kilometers north of Kuta, assumed there was somebody who planned the break.

"As soon as the five o'clock bell for the afternoon roll call rang, the prisoners simultaneously attacked the wardens. Some of the escapees admitted they were forced by fellow inmates to join the attack and the escape," Sindia told journalists.

The head of the province's justice ministry office, Made Tarka, said that a special team was set up to investigate.

He acknowledged that many of the wardens were inept in handling the Garrant rifles they were assigned.

Krobokan Penitentiary was built in 1976 on a four-hectare plot of land. It has 11 blocks with 110 cells and is designed to house 366 inmates.

Sindia said that each block needed a partition to allow the wardens to monitor the prisoners' activities.

He said there were three groups of wardens, consisting of 16 personnel each, to guard the prison every day. "We want at least 24 people in one group," he said. (zen/sur)