Some women inmates unable to kick drug habits
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
More than 60 percent of inmates at Tangerang women's penitentiary, Banten province, are drug-related offenders, with some of them continuing to take drugs while serving their sentences.
"Of the total 191 inmates here, 116 were prosecuted for drug- related crimes, as drugs dealers or users," the penitentiary warden Amelia Abidin said here on Saturday.
Amelia said most of the drug-abusing convicts were serving sentences of more than one year.
Three of them have been sentenced to death, including Meirika Pranola and Rani, while one named Edith Sianturi is serving a life sentence for carrying heroin.
Such a situation has made them prone to HIV/AIDS infection.
Though there has been no survey on how many inmates have been infected by HIV/AIDS, Baby Jim Aditya, an HIV/AIDS activist warned that the penitentiary could provide a conducive environment for infection, if drug abuse was not seriously dealt with.
"Active drug-using inmates are among those prone to HIV/AIDS infection," said Baby, also mentioning the common practice of shared syringes.
It is public knowledge that drug abuse is widespread, even in penitentiaries.
The report on the widespread endemic of HIV/AIDS in Jakarta's penitentiaries has entered the public spotlight following findings made by the City Health Agency.
The agency revealed that 22 percent of 200 inmates who took HIV/AIDS tests at Salemba Penitentiary for men in Central Jakarta last year were tested positive.
Unsafe sex, tattooing and drug abuse are believed to be the common causes of the widespread infection in prisons.
Besides, many security guards also get involved in supplying drugs in jail. Last month, a guard at the high-security Cipinang men's penitentiary was arrested, caught red-handed selling drugs to an inmate.
Tangerang Penitentiary is the largest jail for women apart from Pondok Bambu Penitentiary in East Jakarta.
Sari Puspa, not her real name, said she could still get "high" by inhaling "shabu-shabu" (crystal methamphetamine) in the penitentiary.
"But, here I can only get pakau (high) sometimes due to the tight monitoring and control by wardens. At Pondok Bambu Penitentiary, I could take it everyday as the controls there were quite lax," said Sari. She worked as a drug dealer in Central Jakarta. She was sentenced to one year in jail.
Tangerang prisoners hosted on Saturday a meeting with non- governmental organizations and the media in observance of Kartini Day, which falls on Sunday.
The meeting features in its main agenda, a short story recital from the book titled Zarima, Kumpulan Cerpen (Bukan) Pilihan Kompas (Zarima, compiled short stories (not) published by Kompas daily), written by FX Rudy Gunawan.
Zarima is the name of a controversial inmate Ratu Ekstasi, or Queen of Ecstasy (pills) because she was seized along with thousands of ecstasy pills. She is notorious after having managed to flee from police custody, escaping to the U.S., got caught and served a jail sentence. She got caught again for a second time during a drugs raid.
Zarima who is still serving her sentence was also present and sang a song.
Artists Butet Kartaradjasa, Rieke Diah Pitaloka, and Jose Rizal Manua appeared to recite the short stories.