Cipinang jail under control, but no visitors allowed
Cipinang jail under control, but no visitors allowed
JAKARTA (JP): The condition in Cipinang penitentiary is now
under control but visitors were still not allowed, the newly
installed warden Asep M. Firdaus said on Saturday evening.
"Although it's not all back to normal here, the situation is
getting better. There is no longer tension or clashes among the
inmates," he told The Jakarta Post by phone from his office.
Asep said that in the evening, the penitentiary started to
install new cell doors to replace the ones which were damaged by
the prisoners during the riot that broke out early on Wednesday.
The repair work would continue on the burned kitchen.
"We'll accomplish the work, hopefully, within these weeks ...
then everything will run normally again."
Asep said that based on results of meetings with head of
Jakarta office of Justice and Human Rights Iman Santoso, the
prison is temporarily closed to visitors, pending the
accomplishment of the repair work and until things have cooled
down.
"Pak Iman has scheduled a day for a ceremony which will be
open to the public to inaugurate the repaired prison. It will
likely take place sometime in April, just wait," he said.
The unrest broke out in the wee hours of Wednesday when 50
inmates were heading for buses which were to transport them to
Tangerang and Cirebon prisons.
Police shot four prisoners, killing one of them, in an attempt
to quell the riot.
The penitentiary's administration building and auditorium,
computers, security posts and prisoners' files, a car and four
motorcycles were burned during the unrest. At least 17 cell doors
were broken.
Situated on Jl. Bekasi Timur in East Jakarta, the prison
houses some 2,300 inmates, far exceeding it's capacity to
accommodate 1,500.
Asep said that after the incident, security was tightened in
order to prevent any attempt by the inmates to flee the prison.
"We have anticipated the attempts. We are on alert. We are
tightly guarding the prison with the help of the police," he
added.
As of Saturday, the police had deployed around 300 policeman
to guard the penitentiary.
Asep, who was installed on Thursday to replace Andronicus
Takasiliang, also said he had approached several inmates to
involve himself in efforts to improve conditions.
A staffer at the penitentiary said that none of the prisoners
held any weapons anymore since the wardens and the police had
confiscated all of them.
"To our relief, most of them even turned in the weapons
themselves without being forced," he told the Post earlier on
Saturday.
Many prisoners were found armed with sharp weapons to attack
penitentiary officers during the riot. (bby)