State Budget Savings Through Christmas Remissions For 12,629 Prisoners

Prison Illustration (ErikaWittlieb / pixabay)

JAKARTA - A total of 12,629 Christian convicts throughout Indonesia received a special remission for Christmas 2019. 166 of them can even be released immediately on December 25 tomorrow.

The government, through the Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kemenkum HAM), believes that the provision of special Christmas remissions this year can save the state budget of IDR 6 billion. This budget is generally used to provide food for inmates in all detention centers in Indonesia.

"We believe that giving special remissions this Christmas can motivate prisoners to become better individuals. Not just the fulfillment of prisoners' rights and reduction of the sentence. The meaning is much deeper because it is given during religious celebrations, ”said Director General of Corrections, Sri Puguh Budi Utami in a statement received by VOI, Tuesday, December 24.

Director General of Corrections Kemenkumham Sri Puguh Budi Utami (Doc. Kemenkumham)

Prisoners who receive these remissions include the status of prisoners for at least six months in prison, have not committed violations while serving their crimes and are actively participating in coaching programs and activities in prisons / remand centers.

Of the 12,463 prisoners who received a special remission I or a partial reduction of the sentence, 2,704 received a 15-day remission, 7,895 received a one-month remission, 1,507 received a one-month remission and 15 days and 357 received a two-month remission.

For Christmas 2019, there are special remission proposals for 3,428 people related to 34A Paragraph (1) of Government Regulation Number 99 of 2012, 67 people related to Article 34 Paragraph (3) of Government Regulation Number 28 of 2006 and 9,134 related to general crimes.

"Remission is the right of prisoners which is mandated by laws and regulations. But it is not automatically given because there are many conditions that must be met, both from administrative and substantive aspects, "added Utami.

From the special Christmas remission, the Ministry of Law and Human Rights saved the inmates food costs amounting to IDR 6.31 billion. This figure is calculated from the average cost of meals per day of IDR 17,000 per person.

Based on the Correctional Database System dated December 23, 2019, the number of prisoners in prison throughout Indonesia reached 269,924 people, with details of 202,690 prisoners, 64,512 prisoners and 2,722 children.

This condition is of course inversely proportional to the occupancy capacity of only 130,559 people. The capacity is actually only sufficient to accommodate 128,437 people in narcotics cases or 47.57 percent of the total number of assisted residents.