TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Death toll from Tangerang blaze rises to 44
Wednesday's fire at the penitentiary on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta, took hold in a prison block housing more than three times the number of prisoners it was designed to contain.
Change Size
A burned-out cell at the Tangerang Class I Penitentiary in Banten is pictured on Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021, following a fi re that killed 41 inmates. (AFP/Handout/Law and Human Rights Ministry)
T
he death toll from a blaze that tore through Tangerang jail has risen to 44, as authorities pledged to look at whether more inmates could receive rehabilitation for drug-related offences to ease chronic overcrowding in the prison system.
Wednesday's fire at the penitentiary on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta, took hold in a prison block housing more than three times the number of prisoners it was designed to contain.
Built for 38 inmates there were 122, mostly imprisoned for drug-related offences, detained at the time of the blaze, which was one of the most deadly in Indonesia in recent years.
The initial death toll stood at 41, but three more prisoners who were suffering severe burns died overnight in hospital, Rika Aprianti, a spokeswoman from the prison department at the Indonesian justice ministry said on Thursday.
The ministry said that all the victims of the fire, which police suspect may have been caused by an electrical fault, were inmates.
The incident has triggered calls for Indonesia to reconsider its strict narcotics laws, which see a disproportionately high number of inmates imprisoned for drug-related offences, including many who are small-time users.
Read also: Portuguese, South African among 41 killed in Indonesia jail blaze: minister
Visiting the site of the fire on Wednesday, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD said that out of 200,000 inmates detained across the country, more than half were incarcerated for drug-related crimes.
The high rates, he said, warranted a re-evaluation.
"So, I had a discussion with the justice minister. We talked about drug dealers and how they should be punished based on a final verdict," he said.
"But the victims, the users who become victims, we will think about whether they should all be sent to prison or not. Is it better to rehabilitate them?”
