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Government cuts prison sentences of 53,000 inmates
The government has granted sentence cuts to 53,322 Muslim prisoners across the country this Idul Fitri, but the Bali bombers have been conspicuously left out
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The government has granted sentence cuts to 53,322 Muslim prisoners across the country this Idul Fitri, but the Bali bombers have been conspicuously left out.
The Directorate General of Correctional Institutions at the Justice and Human Rights Ministry said prisoners who had served six months of their sentence would have 15-60 days cut off to mark the Idul Fitri holiday.
"There are 51,442 prisoners who have been granted 15 days to two months of remissions, while the other 1,880 are set to walk free," directorate spokesman Akbar Adi Prabowo told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
He added West Java had recorded the highest number of prisoners receiving sentence reductions (7,923), while Jakarta had recorded 4,063.
"The remissions serve as a reward for prisoners who have shown good conduct. It is expected to motivate other prisoners to do the same, which in return will ease the problem of overcrowding in prisons," he said.
Such remissions are applied each year in commemoration of Independence Day and the religious holidays of Idul Fitri, Christmas, Waisak and Galungan, for which prisoners receive remissions depending on their religion. All prisoners who have served six months of their sentence are eligible for the cuts, except those convicted of graft, illegal logging, drug-related crimes and terrorism.
"Prisoners in those cases would have to serve a third of their sentence before being allowed to benefit from this policy," Akbar said.
Among this year's remission recipients are former Aceh governor Abdullah Puteh, who was sentenced to 10 years, and former East Kalimantan governor Suwarna Abdul Fatah, who was sentenced to 18 months. Both are serving time for corruption convictions.
Prisoners serving a life term or who are on death row are not eligible for any remissions, Akbar stressed.
He added the justice ministry would not grant remissions to nine Bali bombers. The ministry's Bali office had previously proposed sentence cuts for Abdul Rauf, sentenced to 16 years in prison, Junaidi or Amin (15 years), Andi Hidayat (15 years), Andri Oktavia (16 years), Masykur Abdul Kadir (15 years), Dwi Widiyarto (eight years), Abdul Aziz (eight years), Anif Solchanudin (15 years), and Mohammad Cholily (18 years).
However, during Thursday's announcement, the names of the nine men, who were convicted for their involvement in the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings, were not in the list issued by justice minister Andi Matalatta.
Last August, the ministry granted Idul Fitri remissions to some 55,000 prisoners, with some 5,700 set free. The total number of detainees in the country is 136,017. Of this figure, 80,045 have already been convicted, while 55,972 are awaiting trial.
