Jakarta – The government says it will build or refurbish 63 penitentiaries in Indonesia early next year in a bid to reduce prison overcrowding.

"This is related to complaints about the capacity of penitentiaries," Justice and Human Rights Ministry penitentiary director Untung Sugiyono said on Saturday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com news portal.

He said the revitalization program started in 2008 and had been financed by the central government.

"Hopefully it will be finished by early 2011. The penitentiaries are spread throughout Indonesia, especially in West Java, including in Cilegon, Bandung and Banjar," Untung said, adding that 10,000 new cells were being built.

"Fifty buildings are already finished, while work will start on another 30 new buildings in 2011," he said.

One new building, for example, would be in central Cikarang, Bekasi, as the existing penitentiary in the regency could not hold more inmates, he said.