"We could no longer rely on the present approach for several cases, and we should have a new prison management approach," deputy speaker Fawaid stated in Jakarta, Wednesday afternoon.
Fawaid drew attention to the current issue of the rising crime rate while the budget allocated for prison management was limited. To address this issue, prison and legal experts should collaborate and devise a new prison management approach.
Fawaid, who served in the Commission III of the House of Representatives (DPR RI), pointed to budget constraints not only in prisons but also at other institutions and ministries equally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Apart from being overloaded by inmates of drug-related crimes, prisons may be filled with other inmates implicated by the Electronic Information and Transactions Law (UU ITE), he noted.
"I suggest the government to devise a new prison management approach to address overcapacity in prisons, particularly those filled with inmates of drug-related crimes," Fawaid stated.
Fawaid expressed concern that if the criminal approach for inmates, especially those implicated by the drug and the electronic transaction laws, remained unchanged, then the overcapacity issue would not be resolved in future.
"If the prison management approach remains unchanged, we will face the same issues pertaining to budget, human resources, and other prison-related matters in future as we faced today," the deputy speaker emphasized.
The government and the DPR are currently deliberating on the revision of Law 12 of 2015 on Prison, and public inputs and suggestions on improving prison management would be welcomed, Fawaid noted.
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Translator: Imam B, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Suharto
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