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Govt to overhaul prisoner placement for terror detainees

When a standoff at a detention center at the National Police’s Mobile Brigade headquarters (Mako Brimob) in Depok came to an end on Thursday morning, authorities were quick to send terror inmates allegedly involved in the deadly incident to a maximum-security prison on Nusakambangan in Central Java

Nurul Fitri Ramadhani and Agus Maryono (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta/Cilacap
Mon, May 14, 2018

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Govt to overhaul prisoner placement for terror detainees

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hen a standoff at a detention center at the National Police’s Mobile Brigade headquarters (Mako Brimob) in Depok came to an end on Thursday morning, authorities were quick to send terror inmates allegedly involved in the deadly incident to a maximum-security prison on Nusakambangan in Central Java.

Authorities are transferring a total of 145 terror detainees, including two females, from Mako Brimob to Nusakambangan, a prison island off the shores of Cilacap.

The government promised to review prisoner placement and handling procedures, as well as improve penitentiary management amid an overcrowding problem that has long been a matter of concern in the country.

It will gradually separate all terror detainees from detainees of other crimes across the country and impose a one-man, one-prison-cell system for high-risk inmates after applying the new measures on Nusakambangan.

The Law and Human Rights Ministry will assess more than 400 terror inmates across the country, including those under the custody of police detention centers, to determine which detainees are considered high-risk inmates.

“It is not a small number, so it takes time,” the ministry’s director general for penitentiaries, Sri Puguh Budi Utami, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday. “The pilot project is on Nusakambangan and we are working on it [the separation] systematically.”

Located some 3 kilometers from downtown Cilacap, Nusakambangan has long been known as a maximum-security prison island — only one of its seven facilities is a low-security prison.

The Pasir Putih and Batu prisons are the most secure, as they have special blocks for high-risk terror detainees.

As of April, there were 216 terrorism inmates, excluding those detained at police detention centers, incarcerated in prisons in 27 provinces, with Central Java housing the highest number of terror prisoners at 61. On Nusakambangan alone, Pasir Putih held 24 terror inmates and one convicted drug dealer, while Batu housed 17 drug inmates.

The two facilities are still low in inmate population, even though some of the 145 people allegedly involved in the Mako Brimob riot are now locked up in there.

“So we still have enough rooms,” Sri said.

But not all of the 145 riot detainees would be sent to Batu and Pasir Putih prisons, pending an ongoing assessment, Sri said. Those considered to be cooperative will be sent to Besi facility or the overcrowded Permisan and Kembang Kuning prisons.

“Until we finish the assessment, they are not allowed any visits,” Sri said.

But Nusakambangan itself is not without its flaws.

In 2014, many terror inmates at Pasir Putih facility, including firebrand Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, pledged support for Islamic State leaders from the penitentiary’s prayer room.

Late last year, one prisoner was killed and three others injured in a clash that reportedly occurred between a group of terror inmates and members of a prison gang led by gang boss John Kei at Permisan prison.

Anggara of the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) said it was time to get serious in addressing prison overcrowding, particularly in facilities that hold high-risk detainees. “Similar riots can happen in other prisons if the government doesn’t move fast to reform the penitentiaries and criminal punishment.”

The incident also stirred skepticism over the efficacy of deradicalization behind bars. Analysts say isolating terror inmates might prevent them from convincing fellow prisoners to join their cause, but without comprehensive disengagement programs, it might not solve the problem in the long run.

In a case of recidivism, terror convict Yayat Chadiyat planned an attack in which a pressure cooker bomb exploded in Bandung, West Java, in February last year. Yayat later died at the hands of an antiterror squad.

The country’s failing deradicalization program is reflected in the fatal bomb attacks in Thamrin, Jakarta, in January 2016. The attack was allegedly planned from behind bars on Nusakambangan.

Lawmakers will soon summon related authorities to a hearing to dig deeper into the incident. (dpk)

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