Otto: Prison Overcrowding Cannot Be Seen Solely as a Capacity Issue

Deputy Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections Otto Hasibuan stated that overcrowding in correctional facilities and detention centres cannot be viewed solely as a problem of limited housing capacity. During an audience with the Joint Social Enterprise for Correctional Inmates (BERSAMA) in Jakarta on Wednesday, he explained that the issue of prison overcrowding is closely related to the influx of cases, particularly narcotics offences. “The solution must start from the upstream level through prevention, rehabilitation, and more targeted law enforcement coordination,” he said. He added that this problem requires joint efforts across ministries, institutions, and community elements. The current conditions have led to overcapacity levels reaching 80 percent. Of this figure, inmates dominate with 217,149 people or 79.16 percent, while detainees number 57,249 people or 20.84 percent. The narcotics issue is a primary concern as it remains the largest contributor to the prison population. Data shows that narcotics cases account for 147,849 people or 53.81 percent of the total population. From 2020 to 2025, narcotics cases have consistently accounted for more than half of the correctional population. “We cannot work alone. Handling narcotics must be done together with the police, prosecutors, relevant ministries and institutions, and actively involve the community,” he said. The Deputy Coordinating Minister affirmed that the Coordinating Ministry for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections will optimise its functions of coordination, synchronisation, and policy control to ensure that the handling of prison overcrowding runs more comprehensively. He stated that all parties need to ensure that medical rehabilitation, social rehabilitation, and restorative justice for drug abusers in the user category can run more effectively. Those who are not dealers, he continued, should be directed towards a recovery approach, rather than simply adding to the burden of the correctional housing system. Therefore, he added, handling the issue requires the active involvement of all elements of society. Budiharjo also conveyed that his organisation already has 1,000 Anti-Narcotics Volunteers who act as government partners in strengthening education, prevention, and community awareness regarding the dangers of drug abuse down to the neighbourhood and community unit levels. To strengthen the effectiveness of this programme, BERSAMA proposed that the Coordinating Ministry coordinate synergy in handling narcotics involving nine related ministries and one agency. Thus, he hopes that various existing programmes can be integrated into a more focused, effective, and sustainable national policy direction. The audience resulted in a shared view that narcotics handling must be carried out comprehensively by balancing law enforcement, prevention, rehabilitation, education, and community empowerment. Input from the meeting will serve as material for further coordination to strengthen cross-ministerial and institutional synergy in handling narcotics.