"If Nusakambangan Island becomes a zero-signal area, our job as prison guards will be easier. We can focus on improving security from the other side," the Chief Warden of the Nusakambangan Island Prison, Hermawan Yunianto, said.Cilacap, C. Java (ANTARA News) - The Chief Warden of the Nusakambangan Island prison, Hermawan Yunianto, expressed hope that the island will soon be a "zero-signal area" for cell phones, so authorities can tighten security around the prison.
"If Nusakambangan Island becomes a zero-signal area, our job as prison guards will be easier. We can focus on improving security from the other side," Yunianto said in an interview with ANTARA News here on Monday.
Nusakambangan has been an island prison for more than 40 years. Yunianto stated that turning it into a zero-signal area could also help prevent drug trafficking amongst the inmates.
"So we don`t need to raid [cells and confiscate] cell phones from certain prisoners over and over again to prevent them from conducting drug transactions. Besides, we cannot monitor all the prisoners at all times," he remarked.
According to Yunianto, when officers had found and seized some cell phones, the prisoners had refused to reveal the identity of the person who had provided the cell phones.
"It`s actually hard for us to trace this crime since we don`t have the same facilities as the National Narcotics Agency (BNN). Therefore, if the Island is transformed into a zero-signal area, it will limit the movement of prisoners involved in drug trafficking," he pointed out.
Yunianto added that the proposal of transforming Nusakambangan into a zero-signal area has been filed with the Radio Frequency Monitoring Center, an agency that regulates cellular networks and functions under the supervision of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
"I think the best way [to handle it] is to bar the transmission of cell-phone signals from Cilacap to Nusakambangan Island," he noted. (*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
