Jail cuts for inmates questioned

Jail cuts for inmates questioned

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The granting of sentence remissions to some 103,000 prisoners in
observance of Independence Day has come under fire, with
observers noting the recipients included high-profile inmates
convicted of terrorism, murder and corruption.

Although the move is justified by a government regulation,
some critics could not understand why former National Logistics
Agency (Bulog) chief Rahardi Ramelan was among the prisoners who
received sentence cuts on Aug. 17, when he had began serving his
two-year term just two days earlier for graft.

Many have also questioned why former president Soeharto's son
Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, who was convicted of murdering a
high court judge and illegal gun possession, also had his 10-year
prison term cut by more than a year without any public
explanation. Earlier this year, Tommy's then 15-year sentence was
cut by five years by the Supreme Court.

Controversy also surfaced over the granting of remissions to
those convicted for terrorism offenses and Australia has
protested Abu Bakar Ba'asyir's sentence cut of four and a-half
months from his 30-month jail term for conspiracy to commit
terrorism.

Legal experts urged the government on Friday to be transparent
when it gave sentence remissions to inmates in order to empower
the prison's function as correctional institution.

"As correctional institutions, all prisons should have reports
on all prisoners which should be evaluated before giving them
sentence remissions," said Rudi Satrio from the University of
Indonesia.

Rudi believed many prisoners received jail cuts because of
their "better relations" with prison chiefs, wardens and other
top officials.

Rudi and Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, another legal expert from
the same university, said while Government Regulation No. 32/1995
stipulated that all prisoners had the right to receive
remissions, they were not automatically entitled to jail term
reductions every Independence Day or religious celebration.

"First of all, the government must be transparent as to why
Tommy, Rahardi and Ba'asyir were granted sentence remissions to
avoid any confusion among the public," Rudi said.

The chief of the Nusakambangan prison in Cilacap, Central
Java, where Tommy is serving his term, should have explained the
reasons for Tommy's reduction, he said.

Rudi said he believed Ba'asyir was granted the remission
because of a perceived "unfair" decision by the court that
sentenced Ba'asyir to imprisonment for conspiracy leading to the
Oct. 12, 2002 Bali bombings. The bombs killed 202 people,
including 88 Australians.

However, Rudi urged the Australian government not to intervene
into Indonesia's internal affairs regarding Ba'asyir.

Harkristuti, meanwhile, said Rahardi was entitled to sentence
cut of two months not because he had gone to jail two days before
Independence Day but because he had earlier been detained for 10
months last year. Such a sentence remission was a right all
inmates were entitled to, she said.

Rudi and Harkristuti agreed with calls for the government to
revise the regulation so the decisions granting sentence
remissions would seen as be fair and just.

Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said
the government was considering a plan to revise the regulations
on remissions to exempt prisoners convicted of serious crimes.