Prisoners need more humane treatment: Experts

JAKARTA (JP): Last week's rioting in a Surabaya high-security prison has provoked fresh calls for the government to improve the treatment of inmates.

Legal expert Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, social worker Ade Rostina Sitompul, former correctional institutional official Baharuddin Lopa and academic Soetandyo Wignjosoebroto all urged a more humane attitude to prisoners' welfare.

Hundreds of inmates and detainees at Medaeng prison ran amok last Wednesday, setting fire to the prison occupied by 575 people. None escaped because the police surrounded the prison soon after the fire started. Twenty six people were detained for causing the trouble.

Press reports said that the prisoners were unhappy with the way prison officials treated different groups of inmates. While many prisoners sleep on mats, others were said to enjoy privileges such as sleeping on mattresses and being allowed to watch TV and use cellular phones.

Harkristuti from the University of Indonesia said many wardens still held on to the old philosophy that prison is a place for the state to retaliate people for committing crimes.

She pointed to the philosophy of the 1995 law on correctional institutions that says prison is a place for the state to educate inmates so they can become law-abiding citizens.

"The correctional philosophy should be changed so that their approach toward prisoners is more humane," she said.

Harkristuti said that prison officials should remember prisoners retained basic rights that should be respected, such as access to adequate room, food, recreation facilities, reading materials, and social interaction.

She said the Medaeng prison riot was understandable given that the prison was overcrowded, which contributed to aggressiveness, and that discrimination was commonplace.

"Under our legal system, segregation of inmates should be based on the category of their crime, not on -- say -- considerations of wealth," she said.

Ade Rostina Sitompul said she believed that the humane approach was the best way to prevent rioting in prisons as the term correctional institution indicates.

Ade, who shared the 1995 Yap Thiam Hien Human Rights Award with East Java tobacco farmers, said prisoners should be provided with skills they could use to survive after being released.

At present, she said, prisoners did not have enough activities to occupy their time.

"I often see prisoners just hanging around in groups doing nothing," Ade said, adding that insufficient activities generated an atmosphere that could trigger a riot.

She also said that she had seen some prisons had bad sanitary facilities and food. "It is not a place for people to be 'tortured'," said Ade, who dedicates her life to helping prisoners.

"It's a long-standing situation which has not been properly addressed," Ade added.

Baharuddin Lopa called on prison officials to maintain a high alert level because all prisoners had the drive to escape.

"Even though you give them martabak (Indian crepes) every night, it will not influence their wish to flee. Prisoners may look nice, but don't trust them 100 percent that they will not escape," he added.

Lopa, who is the secretary-general of the National Commission on Human Rights, said officials should refrain from treating prisoners harshly or the inmates would be offended.

"We should remember that they are also human beings who deserve to have their basic needs met," he said.

Soetandyo Wignjosoebroto, a professor of Sociology of Law at the state Airlangga University in Surabaya, East Java, also emphasized the need to respect prisoners' basic rights.

"In Indonesia, prisoners' human rights have not been adequately respected" he said.

The professor cited a lack of funds as the main reason for the bad conditions in prisons. (05)