3 New Prisons In Nusakambangan Will Operate This Year

Sodong Pier, Nusakambangan Island, Cilacap, Central Java. (doc. KPU Cilacap)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kemenkumham) will soon operate three new prisons on Nusakambangan Island, Cilacap Regency, Central Java.

The three prisons are Gladakan Prison, Ngaseman Prison and Nirbaya Prison.

"The three new prisons, God willing, will be operational in 2023," said the Coordinator of the Se-Nusakambangan Correctional Area and Cilacap Mardi Santoso, Thursday, May 4, as reported by Antara.

He said, two of the three new prisons, namely Gladakan Prison and Ngaseman Prison, were prisons with maximum security, each with a capacity of around 256 people.

Meanwhile, Nirbaya Prison is a prison with a minimum security and a capacity of 288 people.

With the three new prisons that will soon be operated, in Nusakambangan there are 11 prisons including eight current prisons, namely the Open Prison which implements a minimum security system, Permisan Prison and Yellow Flower Prison which implements medium security, Iron Prison and Narcotics Prison which implements maximum security, as well as Batu Prison, White Sand Prison, and Karanganyar Prison which implements super maximum security.

In addition, the presence of the three new prisons is expected to reduce excess capacity in similar prisons, both in Nusakambangan and other regions throughout Indonesia.

"Nusakambangan is indeed a buffer for prisons in Indonesia," he said.

Regarding the number of community-assisted residents (WBP) in eight prisons throughout Nusakambangan currently operating, Mardi said based on data as of Thursday, May 4 for Batu Prisons with a capacity of 96 people at the time but now 66 inmates are inhabited, while the 365-capacity Iron Prison is currently inhabited by around 500 inmates.

"But later the number of residents of the Iron Prison will decrease, because this is a prison with maximum security," he said.

In this case, inmates who are prisons with maximum security will be transferred to prisons with medium security if they are deemed to have met the requirements.

Furthermore, the Karanganyar Prison has a capacity of 712 people, but now it is only inhabited by 277 WBPs, the Kembangkuning Prison has a capacity of 420 people but is inhabited by 535 WBPs, the Narcotics Prison with a capacity of 383 people, but is inhabited by 428 WBPs, the White Sand Prison with a capacity of 124 people, but only 73 WBPs are inhabited, the Permisan Prison with a capacity of 400 people, but now it is filled with 422 WBPs, and the 100-capacity Open Prison is only filled with 32 WBPs.

He said, specifically for the three prisons with super maximum security, namely Batu Prison, Pasir Putih Prison, and Karanganyar Prison, one WBP pattern applies one cell (one man one cell).

"So overall, the total capacity of eight prisons in Nusakambangan is currently used as many as 2,760 people and only 2,177 inmates have been filled. Meanwhile, for Cilacap Prison with a capacity of around 254 people, but currently it is filled with approximately 511 people," he explained.

According to him, the number of residents of Cilacap Prison is very dynamic because of the detainees who were deposited in that place.

Furthermore, Mardi said that in 2023, the Ministry of Law and Human Rights will also soon build a new prison with medium security in Nusakambangan.

"God willing, this year a new prison will be built with a capacity of around 700 people, located around the Ngaseman Prison, some time ago land measurements have been carried out and so on. This is a prison with medium security," he explained.

He said that currently Nusakambangan Island has been equipped with two new ferry boats, namely the Pengayoman VII Ship and the Pengayoman VIII Ship as replacement for the Pengayoman IV Ship which experienced an incident of sinking in Nusakambangan waters on September 17, 2021.

According to him, the wreck of the Pengayoman IV Ship has been auctioned off and the results have been deposited into the state treasury.

"With the operation of the two new ships, we no longer use chartered ships that have been operated since the incident of the Pengayoman IV Ship," he said.