All Prisons And Detention Centers In Riau Islands Are Overcapacity, Kemenkumham's Solution To Optimize Remissions

Illustration of guards for inmates or inmates in prisons or detention centers in Indonesia. (Antara-Idhad Zakaria)

KEPRI - The number of inmates or prisoners occupying prisons and detention centers in the Riau Islands (Kepri) has exceeded the capacity of up to 74 percent.

"The capacity for inmates in prisons and remand centers is 2,733 people, while the current number of residents is 4,767 people," said Head of the Riau Islands Ministry of Law and Human Rights Regional Office Saffar Muhammad Godam in Tanjungpinang, quoted from Antara, Friday, August 19.

Saffar said that the capacity of inmates in prisons and detention centers in the Riau Islands varies, from the lowest of 30 people to the highest of 400 people.

"About 64 percent of the inmates in the Riau Islands are convicted of narcotics cases, the rest are convicted of general and corruption," he said.

He said several efforts had been made by the Regional Office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights in the Riau Islands to overcome the excess inmates in prisons and remand centers, including optimizing the granting of remissions or reducing sentences.

On the 77th Independence Day of the Republic of Indonesia, the Regional Office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights of the Riau Islands also granted remissions to 3,656 prisoners and children. Of the number of recipients of the remission, 25 of them were declared free immediately.

"The rest will receive a reduced prison term of one to six months," he said.

Another effort, continued Saffar, is to provide integration and assimilation rights at home for prisoners and children. This step is taken to prevent and control COVID-19 in prisons, detention centers, and the Special Child Development Institute (LPKA).

The Riau Islands Ministry of Law and Human Rights Regional Office also proposed to the central government a plan to build a detention center in Natuna Regency in order to minimize excess inmates.

"It has been proposed, the land already exists, hopefully it will be realized soon," he concluded.