T

he North Sumatra authorities were on high alert on Friday as around 2,500 inmates were temporarily detained in basic police jail cells, which already suffered from overcapacity.

With the Tanjung Gusta Penitentiary completely destroyed, the North Sumatra police said that they were overwhelmed with the task of keeping the inmates after they set fire to the maximum security prison late on Thursday.

'€œImmediate measures should be taken to have the inmates returned to maximum security facilities,'€ said North Sumatra Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Heru Prakoso.

The police managed to capture 61 inmates, including five convicted terrorists. A total of 240 inmates, including nine terrorists, escaped from the prison while fires raged following a riot. '€œThey are currently being held separately in Medan, Belawan, Langkat and Binjai police headquarters,'€ said Heru.

The riot, which left five people including two prison guards dead, started after inmates had staged a rally inside the prison earlier on Thursday protesting electricity and tap water stoppages.

The prisoners who did not join the breakout would be evacuated to several other prisons, including Tanjung Pura Penitentiary, the police said, adding that the degree of destruction at Tanjung Gusta Penitentiary left it unfit for purpose.

Heru said the Law and Human Rights Ministry would be responsible for the evacuation process, and that the police would only ensure that the process ran smoothly.

North Sumatra Law and Human Rights Office spokesman Safawi said that managing Tanjung Gusta Penitentiary was a challenge due to overcrowding at the prison. '€œThe number of penitentiaries in North Sumatra is not in balance with the number of inmates. Overcrowding is at more than 200 percent,'€ he said.

As reported earlier, the incident also highlighted the massive overcrowding at Tanjung Gusta, which had only 15 prison officers guarding 2,594 inmates and six detainees. When the prison was built, it was intended to accommodate a total of 1,054 prisoners.

According to Heru, five of the terrorists who were recaptured had been involved in the 2003 CIMB Niaga bank heist, as well as terrorist training activities in Aceh.

He said the police were still hunting for four escaped terrorists and another 85 inmates who escaped on Thursday. He added that the police were focusing their efforts along North Sumatra'€™s borders.

'€œPolice officers are guarding all the border areas in North Sumatra. We are inspecting every vehicle that looks suspicious,'€ he said.

Meanwhile, a joint meeting in Jakarta on Friday resolved to launch a thorough investigation to determine both the motive behind Thursday'€™s riot in the maximum security penitentiary and whether it was planned or spontaneous. It is believed that the riot may have been triggered by the prisoners'€™ discontent over the government'€™s new remission policy.

The meeting was attended by Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto and representatives from the National Police, the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) and the Law and Human Rights Ministry, which supervises correctional facilities nationwide.

Djoko said the investigation would go beyond the blackout and water stoppage incidents. '€œIt will be a thorough investigation to see if it [the riot] was preplanned, particularly due to the stricter remission policy or other things,'€ he said.

Government Regulation No. 99/2012 stipulates stricter requirements on remissions for drug, graft and terror convicts.

Deputy Law and Human Rights Minister Denny Indrayana said perhaps the prisoners thought that the regulation would apply to all drug convicts, including drug users, while in fact it only applied to those convicted of drug trafficking. '€œWe still believe it is a strategic policy with a deterrent effect to affirm our commitment to eradicating illegal drugs, corruption and terrorism,'€ he said.

Tanjung Gusta housed 69 dealers out of total 1,700 drug convicts, a number that Denny deemed could have '€œcaused a problem if it [the policy] was perceived incorrectly'€.

Although the deaths of the two prison guards were still being investigated, Denny said early information revealed that the five deceased became trapped in a prison office while they were preparing a list of candidates to receive remission on the upcoming Independence Day.