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Indonesia’s prison system has taken another hit. On May 8, Mako Brimob, a maximum security detention center in Depok on the outskirts of Jakarta was attacked by inmates. The siege lasted over 36 hours left five police officers and a prisoner dead.
Details of exactly what happened are still sketchy. In a press release, the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the riot – a claim refuted by the police, who say the riot was a fight over food that got out of control. Unconfirmed photographs circulated on Indonesian social media showing supposed terrorist inmates flying the Black Standard (now widely known as the “ISIS flag”) and standing over bloodied victims.
When police from Indonesia’s elite counterterrorism squad Densus 88 stormed the cells, four police officers had had their throats slit so deeply that they had almost been decapitated. One officer had been shot and killed and another, who survived, was held hostage and tortured for over a day.
This incident, however unclear, has catapulted Indonesia’s prison system back into the headlines. But the siege at Mako Brimob is hardly a rare event. The same detention center saw a smaller riot in November 2017 and prisons all over the country regularly experience mass break outs, riots, and widespread violence against both guards and inmates.
Just a quick look at the figures reveals part of the problem immediately. Indonesia has 464 prisons and detention facilities with a capacity to hold 124,006 prisoners. But, as of March 2018, the total prison population in Indonesia, including pre-trial detainees and prisoners on remand, stands at just over 240,000 – with an occupancy rate of 193 percent. In 2000, the total prison population was just over 53,000, showing a dramatic increase in the last two decades Without the funds and the infrastructure to manage Indonesia’s ballooning prison population, it’s no wonder that the system is overwhelmed and under attack.
According to prison officials, some 70 percent of convicted inmates in Indonesia are drug offenders, as Indonesia has some of the toughest drug laws in the world. From January to March 2017, the national prison population increased by a staggering 12,000 inmates, meaning that cells meant for five prisoners now house up to 40 in some prisons. Not only is this inhumane, but packing large numbers of inmates together in one cell means that guards often struggle to contain prison populations and maintain order. In 2013, 200 inmates escaped from a prison in Medan, North Sumatra, and in 2017 over 400 prisoners fled from a prison in Pekanbaru in Riau Province.
But it’s not just mass breakouts that are a problem in Indonesian prisons. The issue of overcrowding can lead to an even more sinister phenomenon: the radicalization of prisoners.
Indonesia’s Prison System Is Broken
How is this different then from the "radicalization" in Italy's prison?
Details of exactly what happened are still sketchy. In a press release, the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the riot – a claim refuted by the police, who say the riot was a fight over food that got out of control. Unconfirmed photographs circulated on Indonesian social media showing supposed terrorist inmates flying the Black Standard (now widely known as the “ISIS flag”) and standing over bloodied victims.
When police from Indonesia’s elite counterterrorism squad Densus 88 stormed the cells, four police officers had had their throats slit so deeply that they had almost been decapitated. One officer had been shot and killed and another, who survived, was held hostage and tortured for over a day.
This incident, however unclear, has catapulted Indonesia’s prison system back into the headlines. But the siege at Mako Brimob is hardly a rare event. The same detention center saw a smaller riot in November 2017 and prisons all over the country regularly experience mass break outs, riots, and widespread violence against both guards and inmates.
Just a quick look at the figures reveals part of the problem immediately. Indonesia has 464 prisons and detention facilities with a capacity to hold 124,006 prisoners. But, as of March 2018, the total prison population in Indonesia, including pre-trial detainees and prisoners on remand, stands at just over 240,000 – with an occupancy rate of 193 percent. In 2000, the total prison population was just over 53,000, showing a dramatic increase in the last two decades Without the funds and the infrastructure to manage Indonesia’s ballooning prison population, it’s no wonder that the system is overwhelmed and under attack.
According to prison officials, some 70 percent of convicted inmates in Indonesia are drug offenders, as Indonesia has some of the toughest drug laws in the world. From January to March 2017, the national prison population increased by a staggering 12,000 inmates, meaning that cells meant for five prisoners now house up to 40 in some prisons. Not only is this inhumane, but packing large numbers of inmates together in one cell means that guards often struggle to contain prison populations and maintain order. In 2013, 200 inmates escaped from a prison in Medan, North Sumatra, and in 2017 over 400 prisoners fled from a prison in Pekanbaru in Riau Province.
But it’s not just mass breakouts that are a problem in Indonesian prisons. The issue of overcrowding can lead to an even more sinister phenomenon: the radicalization of prisoners.
Indonesia’s Prison System Is Broken
How is this different then from the "radicalization" in Italy's prison?
