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)