The Jakarta Post, January 30 2016
Several weeks after a deadly brawl at the Kerobokan Penitentiary in Badung regency, Bali, hundreds of prison inmates have pledged their commitment to helping local authorities restore peace and security in the province’s biggest correctional facility.
The commitment, which was made in writing, was signed on Thursday by representatives of each of the prison’s cellblocks and handed over to the prison management in a ceremony attended by the inmates and local officials.
“Members of the Kerobokan prison’s big family are ready to get rid off cellular phones, illegal levies, drugs, violence, sharp weapons, alcohol, terrorism and conflict. We will obey the prison rules,” the statement read.
During the ceremony, all participants, including inmates, prison guards and officials from the Law and Human Rights Ministry’s Bali office, were also asked to write down their wishes for the prison on a piece of white fabric.
An art and cultural show was held after the signing ceremony, with inmates displaying their skills in several performances, including a traditional kecak dance and music show.
“All inmates have agreed to integrate and no longer keep themselves in groups based on their affiliation to certain mass organizations,” head of the correctional division at the ministry’s Bali office, Nyoman Putra Surya Atmaja, said.
On Dec. 17, a clash involving members of two local mass organizations, Laskar Bali and Baladika, broke out in Kerobokan, leaving two inmates dead and two others injured. Several hours later, a further confrontation between members of the groups outside the prison on Jl. Teuku Umar in central Denpasar left another two people dead and three more injured.
Shortly after the clash, Bali Police personnel conducted a series of raids in the prison, during which they discovered hundreds of weapons, including replica firearms, spears, swords and daggers. Several packages of crystal methamphetamine were also confiscated during the raids.
Surya said the prison management had also made several attempts to prevent a similar incident from occurring inside the prison, such as by renovating the prison’s Cempaka cell block, popularly called C block, that used to shelter inmates affiliated with Laskar Bali.
The walls in the block, he said, had been repainted to cover the Laskar Bali logo drawn by former inmates. A small bunker at the block, where the police previously found several firearms, has also been sealed after the prison’s management relocated all C block inmates to other prisons in Bali and Java following the brawl.
“The block will be used to house people detained by the police who are awaiting trial,” Surya said.
To help other inmates move on from the division and violence, Surya said the prison’s management had also decided to rename all the cellblocks with tourist destinations of the popular resort island, such as Candidasa, Taman Ayun and Kuta.
Firly Man Yasya, a Kerobokan inmate, said he and many other inmates felt anxious about their safety after the brawl took place.
He also expressed support to the commitment from the local authorities and other inmates to bring peace within the prison.
“I feel more relieved now,” he said.
Located on a 4-hectare plot of land on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Denpasar, Kerobokan is currently home to 987 prisoners, including 62 foreign inmates of 22 nationalities.
The provincial administration had earlier proposed relocating some Kerobokan inmates as the prison has far exceeded its official capacity of 323 inmates.
( What a load of crock, if the prison staff would have done their jobs in the first place none of the above needed to have happened, but no, handje out and handje in the pocket as per usual) siK.
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za 30 jan 2016 - 22:06