F

ive foreign inmates involved in high profile drug cases were moved from Kerobokan penitentiary to Malang penitentiary in East Java on Wednesday night.

The five are two Australians, Martin Stephen and Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, two Iranians Mehdi Alinejad Golestan and Saeid Soltani Nabizadeh, and a Sierra Leone national, Emmanuel O. Ihejerika.

The five inmates were moved by prison bus at around 8:30 p.m., escorted by police and military personnel.

Kerobokan prison warden Farid Juanedi told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that the move was conducted to help solve the overcapacity problem faced in Bali'€™s biggest prison. '€œWe have moved several prisoners, especially those with long sentences,'€ Farid said.

Kerobokan prison has a maximum capacity of 323 prisoners, however, the jail is now home to 953 prisoners. '€œMore than 60 of them are foreigners from 20 countries,'€ he said.

In addition to serving long sentences, Farid said the five inmates were also considered to have violated prison rules. He refused to go into further detail.

'€œThe major consideration is because of their long sentences, and they can'€™t cooperate,'€ he said.

The two Australians are part of the Bali Nine, imprisoned for life for trafficking 8.9 kilograms of heroin.

Stephens has special memories of serving his sentence in Kerobokan, as he married his Javanese wife, Christine Winarni Puspayanti, in the prison in 2011.

Meanwhile the two Iranians were sentenced to life in prison for being involved in an attempt to smuggle 4.7 kg of crystal methamphetamine pills into the island in 2010.

The last inmate, Ihejerika, was sentenced to death for trying to smuggle 461.7 grams of heroin into Bali. Ihejerika was found with 31 capsules of heroin in his stomach when he arrived at Ngurah Rai International Airport in 2004.

Farid said that Malang prison was chosen because it was a higher class than Kerobokan, which is a class II A jail, while Malang is a class I A jail. '€œThey are bigger than Kerobokan. Apparently Malang has enough room, so we are moving them there,'€ he said.

Farid said that Kerobokan prison would gradually move inmates to other prisons to solve the overcapacity issue. However, he admitted, in the short term, no other moves were yet scheduled.

The gradual move of inmates from Kerobokan prison has been ongoing since a riot in February 2012. At that time, inmates torched most of the prison'€™s facilities in an outburst of violence. Overcrowding was believed to be a major cause of the riot, as well as alleged preferential treatment by guards to several inmates.

Previously, two other members of the Bali Nine had been moved from Kerobokan prison. Scott Anthony Rush, who was sentenced to life, was moved to Karangasem prison in February this year at his own request.

Meanwhile Renae Lawrence, sentenced to 20 years in prison, was moved to Negara Penitentiary in Jembrana regency in October last year after her plot to murder two female prison guards at Kerobokan Penitentiary was uncovered. However, earlier this month, Lawrence was moved from Negara to Bangli Penitentiary at her own request.