Overloaded prison in Bekasi remains tense after riot

Overloaded prison in Bekasi remains tense after riot

BEKASI (JP): Bulak Kapal Penitentiary in Bekasi remained tense
on Monday following a riot the previous night in the overloaded
prison.

Prison guards are allowing no one, including families of
prisoners, to visit.

In a bid to avoid a possible fresh outbreak of violence, the
local police have deployed some 260 officers, mostly armed,
including members of the elite Police Mobile Brigade.

"The security guards will be deployed until they (the
prisoners) really calm down," Bekasi Police chief Lt. Col.
Sutarman said after observing the penitentiary located in the
center of a densely populated neighborhood on Jl. Pahlawan.

Judging from the prisoners' faces, many were still nervous.
Some firefighters were still extinguishing fire which was burning
in several rooms.

Many visitors, concerned about jailed relatives, were seen
begging to onduty officers to allow them inside to see their
loved ones.

"Please let me in, I'll only be inside for a few minutes," a
woman, who had with her two small children, told a guard peeking
through a small hole on the other side of the entrance door.

"Sorry, I can't let you do that, you must understand," said
the guard.

Upset, the woman sat down in front of the door and waited for
a second chance.

Head of the prison's security force, Budi Sutalaksana, said
five rooms were destroyed by fire during the chaos that lasted
until Sunday midnight.

The destroyed rooms included the prison workshop, job training
room, administration office, canteen and kitchen, from which
inmates had taken kerosene and knives, he said.

Budi explained that Sunday's riot was set off by a prisoner
after he was told by a guard not to ask for money from a prisoner
in another block.

The prison has four blocks and is home to 384 prisoners and
147 suspected criminals who are being kept there until their
hearings at the request of the local prosecutor's office.

Budi said at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday a group of prisoners attacked
a prison guard with bricks and set the canteen on fire.

Head of the penitentiary Isnawan Sedianto said no prisoners
managed to escape during the fray, although some were seen
attempting to do so.

"Our guards were forced to open fire, wounding five
prisoners," Isnawan said, adding four were shot in the legs and
one in the chin.

All five wounded prisoners, he said, were undergoing treatment
at the Soekanto Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta.

The two injured guards were receiving treatment at Bekasi
Hospital.

Police, however, said the five prisoners, Arman, Roni, Romi,
Zulfikar and Usman, were wounded and one guard, Zainudin, were
pelted with stones by the prisoners during the chaos.

The prisoners received gunshot wounds to the neck, knee,
thigh, shoulder and head, respectively.

Police gave conflicting reports on the background of the
conflict.

Officer Sutarman said the problem arose when an unidentified
prisoner asked for money from newcomers to the prison, which is
located on Jl. Makam Pahlawan in Bekasi Timur.

"His actions were noticed by two guards, who reminded him not
to do that," he said.

The prisoner could have been upset with the way the guards --
Syahril and Atim -- told him as he prompted fellow inmates to
attack the guards, he said.

Overwhelmed, the guards then fired shots.

"Shooting for self-defense is allowed by regulation," Sutarman
said.

Meanwhile, a police report stated that the disturbance was
triggered after several prisoners, who had refused to participate
in roll call, were forced to comply by prison guards.

During a meeting in the early hours of Sunday, prisoners and
jailers agreed to stop the violence, Isnawan said.

He explained that the prison had a capacity for some 350
prisoners.

"The crime rate in Bekasi is quite high," he said.

The penitentiary, he said, has only 11 guards working at one
time to watch all 531 prisoners.

The four control towers have not been used for a long time due
to considerable damage, including the stairs.

A staff member of the training unit at the penitentiary, Rata,
said the number of inmates had grown significantly over the
recent years.

"When I started working here in 1990 there were only 50
prisoners," Rata said, adding that there was a similar riot in
1998 but it was not as big as Sunday's disturbance. (08/07)