50 couples get married in Medan penitentiary

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra

Tanjung Gusta prison in Medan here hosted on Sunday a mass wedding ceremony for some 50 couples, including inmates.

The ceremony, which was also attended by Yessi Mahendra, the wife of the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, proceeded with mixed feelings.

Several couples admitted that they were happy about getting married, although they celebrated their weddings in prison. Some others, especially the young couples, were also happy because they were given opportunity by the warden to spend a day or two on "honey moon" leave outside the prison bars.

The opportunity was given after the parents of those couples gave money as collateral to the warden.

The youngest couple (Panuiji, 17 and Rini, 15), for example, expressed their gratitude to God, because they were given an opportunity to have a wedding, although it was held in prison.

"We also thank the warden because we were given the opportunity to spend a couple days outside of prison," said Panuiji.

Panuiji was sentenced to two years and eight month for drug possession. He has spent one year behind bars.

Panuiji admitted that he had had a special relationship with Rini for years, and they even had one child already, named Naya.

For him, the wedding was meaningful, because it made their union official before God and the state.

Yessi said that the program was arranged by the Association of Civil Servants' Wives at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, which she chairs. A similar program was held in Jakarta a few months ago, and the association will again have another mass wedding in Makassar.

"Financial problems are the problem for them to get married, and we help them tackle this problem," she said.

Newly married inmates will be given a special room in the prison for one night.