Government accountability is important as the prison fire claimed 44 livesJakarta (ANTARA) - The Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK) has urged the government to take complete responsibility for the fire that killed 44 inmates at Class I Prison in Tangerang, Banten, on Wednesday morning.
"Government accountability is important as the prison fire claimed 44 lives," LPSK Deputy Chairperson Maneger Nasution said in a written statement received in Jakarta on Thursday.
Complete government responsibility should be demonstrated by assuring compensation to families of the deceased and facilitating medical treatment of inmates who survived the fire and are currently undergoing treatment at the Tangerang Regional Hospital till they make a complete recovery, he added.
"The country should ensure the fulfillment of rights of the next-of-kin of the deceased and surviving inmates," he remarked.
The Tangerang prison fire is not an ordinary fire as it has exposed the human rights deprivation and overcrowding in Indonesian prison cells, Nasution said.
Those issues are detrimental to prisoners' safety while they are incarcerated, he added.
He urged the provision of proper prison facilities for inmates after the accident, saying the government has a legal obligation to ensure humane treatment of prisoners and their safety and to prevent similar fire outbreaks from occurring in other prisons.
The LPSK highlighted the necessity to improve prison management and law enforcement approaches to address prison overcrowding and to dealing with petty crimes, such as drug abuse.
"Those found guilty of drug abuse should face drug rehabilitation instead of being imprisoned," Nasution remarked.
The agency is also concerned that an increasing number of prisoners implicated by the electronic information and transaction law (UU ITE) would complicate the issue of prison overcrowding if all defendants are imprisoned, he added.
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Translator: M Zulfikar, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Sri Haryati
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