Alya Nurbaiti and Apriadi Gunawan, Jakarta and Medan – Regional authorities have released inmates early from penitentiaries across Indonesia following a regulation issued by the Law and Human Rights Ministry to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in overcrowded correctional facilities.
Tanjung Gusta penitentiary in Medan, North Sumatra, released 43 inmates who had served two-thirds of their sentences on Thursday. A total of 143 inmates convicted of lesser crimes will be gradually released over the next week, warden Frans Elias Nico said.
"We have 2,923 inmates. The number has surpassed our capacity, so inmates live in cramped rooms, making them vulnerable to infection. That's why we are following to the government's decision [to grant inmates early release] to curb the spread of the coronavirus," Frans told The Jakarta Post Thursday.
The Ministry has provided a legal basis for the release through Human Rights Ministerial Regulation No. 10/2020 on the terms and conditions of assimilation and integration of prisoners and juvenile inmates to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and Human Rights Ministerial Decree No. 19/2020 on the release of prisoners and juvenile inmates through assimilation and integration to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Minister Yasonna Laoly said on Wednesday that he planned to release 50,000 inmates eligible for early release. The prisoners included those convicted on drug charges who had served five to 10 years in prison, inmates convicted of graft charges aged 60 years and above, special crime convicts with chronic disease and foreign prisoners who had served two thirds of their sentences. Anticorruption activists objected to the release of graft convicts, calling it another blow to the country's fight against corruption.
In Jambi province, Jambi Class II A penitentiary released 39 inmates convicted of lesser crimes on Wednesday night. Penitentiary warden Yusran Saad said that 197 of the 1,157 inmates in the correctional facility would be released by April 7.
Gorontalo Class II A penitentiary in Gorontalo has only 80 inmates eligible for parole. "We started the release on Tuesday. As of today, we have released 46 people," Gorontalo Class II A warden Ignatius Gunaidi said.
The North Sulawesi Law and Human Rights Ministry office has released 508 inmates detained in 14 penitentiaries and detention centers across the province to carry out the central government regulation. The inmates had fulfilled the criteria for early release and none were graft, drug or terrorism convicts, the office head Lumaksono said.
The country's prisons are infamous for holding inmates above their capacities. Indonesia had 524 penitentiaries and detention centers holding a total of 268,967 prisoners as of March 23, more than double the stated total capacity of 131,931 prisoners, according to Law and Human Rights Ministry data.
As of Saturday, more than 25,000 inmates in regions across the country had been released, according to data from the Ministry's Correctional Facilities Directorate General. North Sumatra released the most inmates, 7,410, followed by Central Java with 3,425 inmates, Lampung with 2,416 inmates, Aceh with 1,684 inmates and East Java with 1,576 inmates released.
The National Police have also instructed investigators to refrain from detaining suspects to reduce prisoner numbers and limit spread of the virus.
[Jon Afrizal, Defri Sofyan and Agustinus Hari contributed to this story from Jambi, Gorontalo and Manado respectively.]