T

eluk Dalam Prison in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, is currently incarcerating 2,023 inmates in a facility designed to hold 366, according to an official.

Although regulations allow no more than 16 men or 7 women per cell, each cell currently holds at least 25 inmates.

Budi Santoso Rakhman, an official with the local office of the Law and Human Rights Ministry, said that new penitentiaries were under construction in Tabalong and Banjar regencies to relieve pressure on Teluk Dalam.

However, Budi recommended that prison overcrowding be prevented by reducing crime rather than incarceration.

In South Kalimantan alone, 60 percent of inmates have been incarcerated for narcotics offenses, Antara news agency reported on Wednesday.