Six Prisoners In Padang Class II A Prison, West Sumatra Receive Amnesty From President Prabowo

Six inmates at the Class II A Padang Penitentiary (Lapas), West Sumatra (West Sumatra) came out of prison after receiving amnesty from Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.

"Six inmates have come out after receiving amnesty or pardon from the President of the Republic of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto," said Padang Junaidi Rison Prison in Padang, Sunday.

He explained that the amnesty given by the president to the inmates was part of the program to restore justice and national reconciliation.

Six inmates in Padang Prison who received the amnesty were all involved in drug cases with abuse status, as stipulated in Article 127 of Law 35 of 2009 concerning Narcotics.

They are all male with an average sentence of more than two years, and were sentenced to a minimum of one year and eight months.

"Natapidanan narkotika yang memperoleh amnesty hanya mereka yang berstatus sebagai pengguna atau penyalahguna, bukan kurir atau dealer," tegas Junaidi.

According to him, amnesty is given to prisoners who have met administrative and substantive requirements, including showing good behavior during the coaching period.

In addition, prisoners who obtain amnesty are not involved in cases that are exempted from legal provisions.

The six inmates who were caught in the drug abuse problem were finally able to get out of prison with a smile to their respective homes after receiving amnesty.

Junaidi, who was accompanied by the Head of the Mai Yudiansyah Prison Security Unit, explained that the granting of amnesty did not just come, would still go through a long process and strict selection.

Head of Sub-Section for Registration at Padang Elika Prison told that initially the number of names proposed by Padang Prison was 484 prisoners.

However, of the hundreds of names finally only six names were approved, this proves how tight the selection process is.

Elika explained that the process of submitting names had also started at the end of 2024, then it continued until finally six inmates received amnesty.

The process starts from verifying the name of the convict according to the criteria, then the draft name is sent to the Regional Office to be forwarded to the Directorate General of Corrections.

The final verification is at the central level by including considerations from the DPR and written advice from the Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia.

The head of Padang Prison, Junaidi Rison, hopes that this amnesty can motivate inmates to continue to improve themselves and return to be a productive part in society.

"We welcome this policy as a form of state attention to the social reintegration process of inmates, this is also an encouragement for others to continue to behave well during their criminal period," he said.

To note, the amnesty program is also one of the government's steps in reducing the excess capacity experienced by all prisons, as well as strengthening the humanitarian approach in the Indonesian correctional system.