High times in RI's prisons

High times in RI's prisons

JAKARTA: Around 40 percent of prisoners nationwide are abusing narcotics and psycotropics, Justice and Human Rights Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra said Saturday.

"The problem is indeed difficult to deal with," Yusril said as quoted by Antara during a lecture at Medan University, North Sumtara on Saturday.

He said the government was still constructing special penitentiaries with tighter surveillance systems to prevent prisoners from taking drugs.

Such prisons were being built in Pamekasan, Madura in East Java, and in Cirebon, West Java, he said.

The prison in Cirebon, according to Yusril, could accommodate as many as 1,500 inmates.

He said the opening of the prison in Cirebon had been postponed following a protest by residents who claimed payments for the land where the prison was situated had not been settled. -- Antara