Bogor needs new penitentiary

BOGOR: Paledang Bogor Penitentiary warden Rachmat Tanoe stressed, on Monday, the urgency of establishing another prison in the municipality as the penitentiary currently houses 1,151 inmates, far beyond its capacity of only 500.

"The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights had issued a working order last year to start the construction of a new prison in the Bogor regency," he said. "It's been very difficult to get land. Recently the regency administration gave four hectares of land in Pondok Rajeg area. Hopefully, in the near future, we will have a new prison."

The 600-square-meter Paledang Bogor penitentiary has 44 rooms for the inmates. Five groups of guards, comprising 15 guards in each group, work shifts in guarding all the inmates.

Rachmat said that Paledang Bogor could not easily transfer its inmates to other penitentiaries in West Java because most of them were also full due to the high crime rate in the province. -- Antara