Money can buy anything at Tangerang prison

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang, Banten

The thick walls and iron bars of prison often prove to be no deterrent to those inside trying to get ahold of contraband goods from outside.

It seems all a prisoner needs to part the thick walls and open his cell is money, which in the right amounts will often induce a prison guard to help out an inmate.

The Tangerang Prison in Tangerang, Banten, is no exception. If you have money, just tell a guard what you want and he'll likely get it for you.

An inmate can live like a king if he has enough money because there seems to be nothing some guards won't do for the right price.

Thirty-two-year old Tris, an inmate, acknowledged that there was rampant bribery in the prison.

The slender inmate, who is two years into a nine-year sentence for drugs, told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview that if an inmate wanted alcohol, drugs or a cellular phone, it could be arranged with a guard.

"With the assistance of a guard, prisoners can even arrange to bring a prostitute in. And for some inmates, they can have sex either inside or outside the prison," he said.

Despite being confined in a cell, life clearly can be quite comfortable inside the prison. Though, as Tris said: "It all depends on money."

So cooperative are some guards that they will warn prisoners if there is going to be a search of the cells, so the inmates can hide contraband items like weapons, cellular phones and pornographic VCDs.

One guard admitted that he was willing to do an inmate's bidding as long as he was paid for his services.

"Helping supply the inmates' needs is the only way for us to get extra money. If the other guards and I depended only on our monthly salaries we would die of starvation," the guard, who asked not to be named, told the Post.

Guards at the Tangerang prison earn between Rp 200,000 (US$22.20) and Rp 400,000 (US$44.40) a month, far below the government-approved regional minimum wage for Tangerang of Rp 630,000 a month.

Given all this it should come as no surprise that Nigerian inmate Innocent Iwuofor, alias Ino, 22, was charged last week by the police with controlling a drug trafficking ring from behind bars. Innocent was allegedly using a cellular phone provided to him by a guard to run his criminal enterprise.

Extortion by guards is also reportedly common in the prison. Many relatives of inmates tell similar stories of having to buy their way into the prison to visit an inmate.

A woman who was visiting her son at the prison told the Post that every time she visited she had to pay Rp 20,000 as an "entrance fee". She had to pay another Rp 20,000 to enter her son's block and Rp 50,000 for the head guard of the block.

"If I don't give them the money, it would be difficult for me to see my son and he would be unsafe and starve in jail," said the woman, whose son was jailed for the possession of marijuana.

The warden of the prison, Didin Sudirman, denied accusations that he turned a blind eye to the extortion of prisoners' families by his guards.

"There has never been such a thing here," he said.

However, he acknowledged that it was possible some of the guards might help inmates secure contraband goods.

But he promised to take steps to fight the practice. "I will take stern measures if I find out about any such guards," he said, also promising to increase the frequency of raids in the prison.

The top detective with the Tangerang Police, Adj. Comr. Kustanto, said that following the arrest of Innocent, the police would work with the warden to coordinate surprise raids in the prison.