Cipinang jail warden replaced following Wednesday's riot

Cipinang jail warden replaced following Wednesday's riot

JAKARTA (JP): The warden of Cipinang Penitentiary was removed
from his post on Thursday following a riot in the prison on
Wednesday.

One inmate was killed and several others injured when police
stormed the prison on Wednesday to put down the riot.

Andronicus Takasiliang, who was reassigned as the coordinator
of penitentiaries in North Sumatra, was replaced by Asep M.
Firdaus, who has previously served as warden at penitentiaries in
Ambon, Bekasi in West Java and Palembang in South Sumatra.

Asep said his first order of duty was to confiscate weapons
and Molotov cocktails from prisoners.

"The fact that prisoners were able to threaten the lives of
prison guards with machetes and sickles on Wednesday ... the fact
that they had those items was because of a serious compromise of
security allowed by penitentiary officials," Asep said after
being installed in his new post during a ceremony at the Ministry
of Justice and Human Rights.

"Wednesday's riot was about the real social gap between rich
and poor inmates, overcrowdedness and influence from outside the
penitentiary."

Separately, the director general of penitentiaries, Adi
Suyatno, said the weapons used by the prisoners on Wednesday had
not been smuggled into the jail.

"These weapons that were confiscated by prison guards had been
stored in a warehouse (on the prison grounds) that was broken
into recently by the prisoners," he said.

However, sources in the penitentiary said on Wednesday the
weapons had been crafted inside the prison.

Cipinang Penitentiary guards, under the supervision of
Takasiliang, who was installed as warden last March, faced a lot
of heat from police this February following the escape of a
suspect in last September's Jakarta Stock Exchange bombing, which
left at least 10 people dead.

In other matters, Adi said some 9,000 people from the now-
defunct social affairs and information ministries would be
transferred to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.

"These people will be stationed in penitentiaries nationwide,
where they can help with administration and security, after
receiving the proper training," Adi said.

There are 372 correctional institutions and detention centers
across the country's 27 provinces, but the number of prisoners
often exceeds the capacity of the prisons.

The National Commission on Human Rights is scheduled to carry
out a nationwide investigation into penitentiaries and detention
centers to find the cause of unrest in these institutions.

The commission's secretary-general, Asmara Nababan, said the
public saw Wednesday's riot as the result of a serious lack of
discipline in both prison guards and prisoners, and the wide
social gap between inmates.

He added that another cause of unrest in prisons was the
meager salaries paid to guards, which often led guards to work
with prisoners in illegal ventures.

Asmara added that the poor conditions in which prisoners were
kept was also a primary concern, one that often triggered clashes
either between inmates or with prison guards.

"The welfare of prisoners has became a chronic disease that
cannot be solved. Maybe it is because the government lacks funds.
However, we have to find out what has been going on in these
prisons all this time."

The riot in Cipinang prison broke out as some 60 prison guards
and officers from the police's Mobile Brigade were escorting 50
prisoners, most of whom had been sentenced for drug offenses, to
buses that were to transfer them to penitentiaries in Tangerang
and Cirebon. (ylt/bby)