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)