Barring an unforeseen delay, convicted terrorists will soon have a new home on Nusa Kambangan island off Cilacap in Central Java, where a new maximum security prison will open next month.
The idea is to isolate the convicts so that they cannot communicate with the outside world. No shit!
Being put behind bars, prisoners are expected to have restricted contact with people outside their cells or prisons. In general, they can only communicate with relatives and friends during visiting hours. They are not supposed to have access to communications devices like mobile phones and the Internet.
But what happens in many prisons here is quite unbelievable. Prisoners can easily bring in cell phones and even laptops, as in the case of Imam Samudra, who was sentenced to death for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people. Even though he was imprisoned, Imam could still immerse himself in the world of terrorism using a laptop in Krobokan Correctional Institution in Denpasar. Iman had been calling for more terrorist attacks and been active in raising funds for terrorism several months before the second Bali bombings in 2005.
How could he obtain a notebook? It wasn't difficult. In July 2005, he ordered the computer from a friend and it was sent using the services of a courier firm to a prison guard, who later gave it to Iman, who also happened to have his own cell phone.
It is quite easy for prisoners, not only Imam, to obtain cell phones and other communications devices, and well as goods that are banned in jail. When the police raided Krobokan prison in December 2005, they found dozens of mobile phones, eight LPG stoves, three gambling boards, 0.5 grams of marijuana and 2,300 ecstasy pills, a brothel complete with female prostitutes, an illegal still, copies of Indonesian Playboy and a fuckwit in a Glasgow Celtic Shirt!
The smuggling of illicit items happens not only in Bali, but in many other prisons throughout Indonesia.
The finding of drugs in the Cipinang correctional institution and Salemba detention center, both in East Jakarta, is not uncommon. There have been many reports about the smuggling and distribution of drugs inside these institutions, which are severely overcrowded. As a matter of fact, some prisoners have run their own drug businesses from inside their cells. In many cases, prison guards or other employees are also involved.
The latest case came to light recently. The Jakarta Police said they arrested a woman late in February and confiscated 100 grams of heroin from her. She admitted that the business was controlled by two inmates in an East Jakarta prison. The police had earlier arrested two staff members from the Cipinang correctional institution and four other people for trafficking drugs, confiscating 415 ecstasy pills, 254.7 grams of crystal methamphetamine and 20 grams of heroin from them.
True, such abuses involving prisoners have been happening right under our noses for a long time. Besides the smuggling of various items, it is widely known that important inmates receive special treatment, even in Nusa Kambangan prison, although this has been repeatedly denied by Justice Minister Hamid Awaluddin.
It is common knowledge that when Tommy Soeharto, the youngest son of former president Soeharto, was serving his jail term in Nusa Kambangan, he often flew to Jakarta for medical treatment. He also reportedly visited his supposedly ailing father at his home in Menteng, Central Jakarta, several times before he was released last year. It appears that he may also have attended the opening of the Indonesian A1 Grand Prix in January of 2006, flying in by helicopter while the President SBY, arrived on a motorbike!
The Central Jakarta District Court jailed Tommy for 15 years in 2002 for masterminding the murder of a Supreme Court justice, but the Supreme Court reduced the sentence to 10 years in 2005 on the grounds that he had not been proven to have illegally possessed arms and avoided arrest.
Because of "good behavior", the government was generous in awarding him a total of 32 months in remission so that he could walk out of jail after serving only about six years in jail.
Currently, Nusa Kambangan prison is home to inmates convicted of serious crimes, including premeditated murder and corruption. The idea of sending terrorists to the maximum security prison is actually not new. Funnily enough, it seems to work in other "developed" countries!
The new prison for convicted terrorists is being built next to the present prison complex. It will have the capacity to accommodate 400 inmates.
We shall see what turns up the first time they inspect the place!
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