Mahfud replaces warden of Cipinang penitentiary

JAKARTA (JP): Caretaker Minister of Justice and Human Rights Mahfud MD appointed Ngusman on Thursday as the new Cipinang Penitentiary warden, replacing Asep M. Firdaus, who suffered a stroke two months ago.

Ngusman was previously the warden of Makassar State Penitentiary in South Sulawesi.

Iman Santoso, the head of the Jakarta office of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights and also the director general of immigration, installed Ngusman as the new warden in a modest ceremony at Iman's office in East Jakarta.

Mahfud told The Jakarta Post and Koran Tempo that Asep had suffered a stroke two months after his appointment as the warden of Cipinang Penitentiary in April.

"And his temporary replacement, Siswadi, could not do much about anything," Mahfud said.

Mahfud said he would explain his decision for replacing the warden of Cipinang Penitentiary to President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Megawati had earlier ordered the caretaker ministers to report directly to her and not make any significant decisions, including the replacement of staff members in their respective departments.

Mahfud said the decision to replace the warden of Cipinang Penitentiary was urgent, as security in the prison, which houses some 2,300 inmates, had been deteriorating.

He also said that the appointment could not wait any longer since the new Cabinet lineup would be announced next week.

The penitentiary is overcrowded, as it was built to hold only 1,700 inmates.

The outgoing minister cited that over the past several weeks brawls and prison riots as well as a jailbreak had occurred at the penitentiary, which has about 120 guards working three shifts.

"If these prisoners wanted to escape, they could en masse," Mahfud said.

Last month, two suspects of last year's bombing of the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX), Nuryadin and Irwansyah, broke out of jail after holding up a guard with a gun that had been smuggled into the penitentiary along with two hand grenades.

The police rearrested Irwansyah, a former member of the Army's Special Force (Kopassus), but failed to apprehend Nuryadin. Earlier in February, another suspect in the same case, Ibrahim Abdul Wahab, also escaped from the prison.

The police later executed a preplanned raid of the penitentiary and seized hundreds of weapons, including knives, swords, sickles, machetes and other dangerous weapons. A marijuana plant was also confiscated.

Spokesman for the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights R.A. Tjapah told the Post that Cipinang Penitentiary's main problem was its "overcrowdedness".

"We have been asking the city administration to build a new building for a year now, but to no avail," Tjapah said.

He also acknowledged the thriving drug trade in the penitentiary. He said that drug transactions could amount to Rp 20 million (US$2,000) per day.

"The guards are afraid of the prisoners as they are outnumbered," he said.

He also admitted that it was common for inmates to run a business, such as renting out televisions, cellular phones or pornographic videos.

In the latest prison incident, Nigerian prisoners were involved two days ago in a brawl over narcotics.

"I think it would be better for the Army to guard the prisoners. The guards cannot do much as their guns are obsolete," he added. (tso/edt)