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Law minister mulls new rules on prisoner amnesty, transfers
Following the recent repatriation of foreign convicts, the government is mulling over legislating new rules on prisoner amnesty and transfers as part of a wider aim to ease congestion in the country's overcrowded prisons.
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Inmates of Serang Penitentiary in Banten line up on Nov. 27 to cast their votes in the 2024 regional head elections. (Antara/Angga Budhiyanto)
T
he Law Ministry is considering drafting new legislation on prisoner amnesty and transfers following the recent repatriation of convicted foreign nationals and the government’s plan to grant amnesty to thousands of inmates languishing in the country’s prisons.
“The timing is right to have a law regulating [executive] amnesty, clemency and rehabilitation” for wrongful prosecution or conviction, Law Minister Supratman Andi Agtas said in a press statement on Tuesday.
“The President has suggested that we grant amnesty every year for certain cases,” he said.
The Constitution outlines general terms for granting amnesty, or exemption from criminal liability, as a presidential power that can be exercised on approval from the House of Representatives.
Clemency is also an executive power and refers to pardoning a convicted individual of part or all punishments as well as commutation of death or life sentences upon consultation with the Supreme Court, as stipulated in the 2010 Clemency Law.
The Constitution also outlines the concept of rehabilitation as a measure to restore the rights of a wrongfully convicted individual, which can be granted by the president upon consultation with the Supreme Court.
The government said last week that some 44,000 convicts, mostly drug users that should have been sent to rehabilitation facilities, could be granted amnesty on humanitarian grounds to help relieve the country’s overcrowded prisons.
