Warden says drug trade triggered Cipinang brawl
Annastashya Emmanuelle and Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The chief warden of Cipinang penitentiary in East Jakarta revealed on Wednesday that the fresh brawl in the prison that left two people dead on the previous night was caused by competition between drugs businesses run by inmates in the institution.
Ngusman, the chief warder, admitted that narcotics businesses in the prison were rampant and that drugs were smuggled in by visitors, who could total 600 people per day, and were later distributed with the help of prison warders.
"There is a possibility that some of our officers are involved in distributing drugs inside the penitentiary," he told reporters.
"We have yet to identify any suspects (among the officials), but collusion between officials and inmates in the business is quite likely," Ngusman remarked.
The brawl occurred in Cipinang jail on Tuesday, claiming the lives of two inmates, while three others were seriously injured with stab wounds.
One inmate, Timbul Tampubolon, died instantly on Tuesday from severe stab wounds, while Ardin Napitupulu died later in the night at the Raden Said Soekanto police hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, due to loss of blood.
One visitor to the jail, who was identified only as Raymond, said that smuggling things into the penitentiary was easy.
"As long as you befriend the guards, you can take anything inside ... it isn't that difficult, just be reasonable in your 'donations'," he said.
On Wednesday, however, the jail was closed to visitors.
After the brawl had subsided on Tuesday night, East Jakarta police conducted a weapons search at the penitentiary and found at least 800 sharp weapons.
The weapons were handmade, using material from unused metal gates at the jail.
At the city police headquarters, 20 inmates have been detained for questioning.
"They have already been named as suspects and will be detained while we process them thoroughly" said Jakarta Police spokesman, Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam, adding that the 20 were believed to be the leaders of groups inside the penitentiary.
According to Ngusman, the main problem at Cipinang prison, where brawls often occur in addition to jailbreaks, is because the penitentiary is overcrowded.
At the moment, there are 2,300 inmates at the institution, whereas the original capacity is 1,700, with only 160 warders working round the clock in four shifts.
Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said that on Tuesday night, 105 prisoners, including the so-called "leaders" of the inmates, were transferred to other prisons throughout Java.
Separately, criminologist Adrianus Meliala said the problems at Cipinang jail were deep-rooted and complex as they involved many aspects such as the jail's capacity, human resources, security and finance, which were interrelated.
Closing and moving the penitentiary to a different area could be one of the solutions, Adrianus said, to keep both the inmates and guards from financial temptation.
"The jail is located at the center of the city, with boundary walls that are very close to private houses; this is wrong ... there should be at least a 5 km separation between jail boundary walls and any public place," he said.
Another option is to close the institution and transfer the inmates to other penitentiaries in order to break up the prison culture between inmates and warders that is formed at each penitentiary.
"Of course this cannot be done immediately, this option requires time considering that our other jails are overcrowded too," Adrianus The Jakarta Post.