Nivell Rayda – The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights is planning to double Indonesia's prison capacity to battle overcrowding in its facilities, the minister said in an annual address on Tuesday.

Justice and Human Rights Minister Andi Mattalatta said that currently, Indonesia's prisons are designed to hold 88,599 prisoners but the total number of the country's inmates stands at 136,017.

"This creates a lot of problems with security, stress, suicides and sanitation. We sometimes have to pardon some of our prisoners just to reduce the pressure," Mattalatta said.

"We are trying to expedite the building of more facilities and increase the existing facilities by 200 percent. We have submitted our proposal to the Ministry of Finance," he said, refusing to disclose the budget proposed for the project.

Last year, the Justice and Human Rights Ministry managed to increase prison capacity by 2.37 percent. However, this increase was not able to cope with the influx of prisoners, which saw a rise of 6.27 percent.

Prisons are also understaffed, with only 2,655 guards for the 136,017 inmates. "This would mean that each guard is watching 52 inmates. Far from the ideal 25 per guard," Mattalatta said.

Prisons in Indonesia have received much criticism as inmates often escape, enjoy lavish facilities and are asked for illegal fees by the officials.

Dewi Angriani, a social expert, wrote an article about Indonesia's prison system, alleging that prisoners often bribe officials for anything from cell phones to televisions. Some even bribed their way out, Angriani wrote, returning only when there is an inspection by ministry officials.

"We will eradicate those practices," Mattalatta said. "We shall create a blueprint on prison reforms to determine the strategic steps that need to be taken from 2010 to 2015."

Mohamad Fajri, an independent consultant overseeing the blueprint, said that prisons needed to return to their original function of correcting criminals and creating a sense of remorse.