Prodita Sabarini, Jakarta – Drug users and small-time dealers fill the country's jails, but an eight-time convict says putting drug users in prison will not help them kick the habit.
"It won't. They are even at risk of acquiring HIV on the inside," said ex-drug user and activist Budi Risetiabudi Darma Adi.
As more people pass in and out of the country's prisons, problems associated with incarceration, like needle sharing, grow worse. Inmates make easy prey for drug syndicates.
With the amount of syringe sharing that goes on in jail, HIV continues to spread among prisoners, Budi said.
National Narcotics Agency (BNN) data shows that of the 11,000 incarcerated drug users in 2006, 50 percent are living with HIV. The agency estimates there are 600,000 injecting drug users (IDUs) in the country.
Budi, the coordinator of Stigma, an organization that aims to reduce the effects of stigmatization by HIV/AIDS, said prison was the last place in the world a drug user should be. "I was an addict and have been in and out of jail eight times. Did I quit in that time? No. I just kept using in prison.
Among drug users, the risk of acquiring HIV in prison may be higher than in the outside world. "The drugs are abundant but the needles are not. So, they share."
There has recently been extensive media coverage of drug busts and convictions. While most people favor police action against drug users, locking up nonviolent drug users is overly simplistic and costly.
Furthermore, the failure to distinguish between users and dealers by imprisoning them together is a mistake considering the history of needle sharing among inmates and the poor management of the country's jails.
It is easy to bribe guards to get favors, while dealers continue to sell drugs, both to inmates and people on the outside.
BNN official Brig. Gen. Indradi Thanos confirmed the situation to The Jakarta Post. "Not only do people use drugs, they even control their business from behind bars."
The agency has reported widespread drug use in Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta and Salemba Penitentiary in Central Jakarta. "We also found drugs were being dealt within prisons in Bali and Tangerang," he said.
By bribing a guard, an inmate can keep a cellular phone, which is clearly prohibited for prisoners. This allows them to order or sell drugs in jail. A few weeks ago, an inmate at Pondok Bambu prison, East Jakarta, identified only as Ida, was caught using her cell phone to give directions to four drug couriers.
The Jakarta Police arrested Ida's four accomplices – Herman, Mickel Minoru, Achmad Machfud and Andrieyansyah Syarief – after receiving a tipoff from an unidentified inmate at Pondok Bambu prison.
Budi said it was common for inmates to have cell phones. "Not only big-time dealers, even I had a cell phone. Bribe a guard and you can do anything," Budi said.
The Justice and Human Rights Ministry has said fixing the prison system will take a long time and a great effort as the number of prisoners is increasing faster than the number of guards.
Indradi said the agency was working out a system whereby nonviolent drug users would not land up in prison but in rehabilitation centers instead.
He said the main barrier to accommodating more drug users in rehabilitation centers was the cost of treatment programs and hiring skilled workers.