C

atur Budi Fatayatin is preoccupied with how to manage the survival of the 185 juvenile inmates under her care with the meager Rp 14,500 (US$1.10) per day they each receive from the cash-strapped Law and Human Rights Ministry.

She often drops in on the catering company’s kitchen to join the cooks because doing so gives her peace of mind. Seventy percent of the detainees come from poor families and few family visits means little additional food comes in.

“I have positioned myself as if I am their parent and treat them all like they are my own children,” said Catur, the warden at the Sukamiskin Juvenile Detention Center.

The Jakarta Post found that underprivileged inmates housed in prisons and correctional facilities in Bandung and Jakarta advise their relatives against visiting them as they risk being extorted by prisoners acting as “tough guys” who allegedly have the backing of corrupt guards. Once the relatives leave, inmates are allegedly intimidated into “sharing” money with the thugs.

Recalling her first day in the job back in 2014, Catur said there were only 50 inmates in the facility and she would, once in a while, use her own money to buy additional ingredients like flour and noodles so she could vary the food served to the children.

With the tight budget, Catur makes sure that the convicts are provided with an egg and meat once a week. Salted fish is served twice a week and tempeh is the daily staple food.

The dietary conditions in Sukamiskin are similar to that of Jakarta’s Cipinang and Salemba penitentiaries. Given the Rp 15,000 daily allocation provided by the ministry, the aforementioned conditions may well mirror the situation in penitentiaries across the country.

In a recent hearing at the House of Representatives, Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly admitted that Indonesian prison conditions were “appalling”. Facilities have been operating at acute overcapacity with skeletal staffing and are rife with corruption.

“In Medan, the penitentiary designed to accommodate 1,000 inmates is well-overcrowded. Currently, 3,500 inmates are overseen by 17 prison guards,” he said.

Recurring riots and cases of pervasive crimes within the facilities are regularly blamed on overcapacity. As the cost of food increases and the number of detainees continues to rise, the Rp 15,000 per day per person allotment the government set many years ago remains unchanged. The ministry estimates that an ideal allocation would be Rp 59,000.

Aware of possible dire consequences of an overly tight prison food budget, the ministry has scrapped its plan to ban visitors from bringing in meals for inmates, despite risks such as drug smuggling and food poisoning.

Criminal suspects housed at detention centers run by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the police, prosecutors and the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) are somewhat luckier. Their daily meal budget is Rp 40,000. For immigration detainees it is Rp 34,000 per day.

Throughout West Java, overcapacity levels are astonishing. The 31 penitentiaries and detention centers were designed to accommodate 15,500 people combined, but the latest official statistics indicate that the facilities have an extra 21,785 people.

Inside the Sukamiskin facility, the Post found the diet in the juvenile block was better than that offered in the adult block. In the former, the young detainees say they eat three times a day, although nutrients were prioritized behind portion size.

 Zen, not his real name, a 38-year-old ex-drug convict who was released from the Bandung Narcotics Penitentiary last month, described prison life in his old block as disheartening. Meals were served three times a day, but they were far from adequate, he explained.

“The food was served on dirty plates. The staple food was rice served with tempeh, tofu and vegetable soup. We got a slice of meat the size of a matchbox once in a while,” he said.

Andreas, 38, a former drug recidivist who was imprisoned four times in Jakarta’s Salemba and Cipinang and Bali’s Kerobokan penitentiaries, described the prison food he received three times a day — in all three of the prisons — as “unfit” for human consumption.

“The meals consisted of rice, vegetable soup, egg and fish,” he recalls. For snacks, he said he was served mung bean porridge and/or boiled sweet potatoes once a day.

Just like “normal” life beyond prison walls, life is easy as long as you have money, Andreas said. In Jakarta, he would buy food in the facilities’ canteens, which are in fact intended for visitors and employees.

“For Rp 5,000, I would be able to purchase rice and tempeh that was more edible than that provided by the penitentiary,” he said.

But less fortunate detainees like “Bodong”, a 42-year-old drug convict, have to survive solely on the meals served at the Cipinang facility. He is too poor to buy food at the canteen or pay to use the communal kitchen.

“Sometimes my family brings me food. It’s the time I can have my favorite dishes,” he said.

 In Bandung, there are prisoners who double as food hawkers for catering companies, selling everything from fried rice and instant noodles to nasi rames (rice with side dishes) for between Rp 15,000 and Rp 20,000.

 Can’t kick the smoking habit? No problem. Cigarettes of all brands are available for those that can afford to pay. Need a new shirt? Want one that is fashionable? Easy, as long as you can pay the hundreds of thousands of rupiah purchase price, the latest model will be brought to you in no time.

For some, penitentiary life is a profitable business opportunity indeed. For others, the opportunity to eat is a luxury.