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View all search resultsGovt plan for drug rehab risks replicating prison overcrowding
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Stock illustration of a drug user (Shutterstock/-)
A
planned revision to the 2009 Narcotics Law has drawn sharp criticism from legal experts and rights groups, who warn the government’s current proposals will merely shift Indonesia's severe overcrowding crisis from prisons to state-run rehabilitation centers.
Critics argue that building massive infrastructure without addressing the deficit of psychiatrists and addiction counselors may simply rebrand incarceration as addiction treatment programs.
The policy shift stems from a late September directive by President Prabowo Subianto, who ordered ministries to formulate technology-supported education and rehabilitation models to help drug users recover and return to productive lives.
The catalyst for the overhaul is the chronic overcrowding facing many prisons across the country. Prisons currently hold more than 274,000 inmates against a capacity of about 152,000, according to Corrections Directorate General data. Narcotics offenses account for more than half of that population.
To address this, Coordinating Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Correctional Services Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra floated a plan on Oct. 9 to build new drug rehabilitation facilities on remote, uninhabited islands.
"Many of our islands are sometimes up to 700 hectares with no people, only crocodiles living there," Yusril said. He also proposed the involvement of police and military personnel at these facilities, particularly in providing discipline training courses.
The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) has also announced that it is preparing 10 to 15 farm sites to support the program, with each location capable of holding up to 3,000 people.
