Napi Takut Corona, Picu Kerusuhan di Lapas Manado
Coronavirus Measures Trigger Prison Riot in Indonesia
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
NARAPIDANA yang marah membakar penjara yang penuh sesak di Lembaga Pemasyarakatan [Lapas] Kelas II A Manado, Sumompo - Tuminting dipicu oleh kekhawatiran narapidana pada penyebaran virus Corona.
Ratusan polisi dan tentara dikerahkan untuk mengendalikan Lapas Tuminting di kota Manado, ibukota provinsi Sulawesi Utara, yang dirancang untuk menampung 490 narapidana namun saat ini dihuni lebih dari 550 orang, kata Lukmasono, Kakanwil Kemenkumham di Manado, Sabtu malam [11/4].
Lukmasono mengatakan penyelidikan awal mengungkap bahwa banyak narapidana, sebagian besar kasus narkoba, marah oleh pembatasan pada kunjungan keluarga dan cemburu setelah remisi awal pada 115 narapidana untuk mengantisipasi penyebaran virus Corona di Lapas.
Narapidana mengamuk seraya berunjuk rasa, dan tahanan lain bergabung sehingga berubah menjadi tindak anarkis, tetapi tidak ada laporan korban tewas, kata Lukmasono.
Tayangan video di televisi menunjukkan para tahanan di lapangan terbuka di bawah penjagaan ketat oleh tentara sementara kobaran api dan asap hitam mengepul dari sebuah gedung di komplek Lapas, dan membakar peralatan kantor, dokumen, dan pecahan kaca tersebar di sekitar penjara.
Indonesia telah membebaskan lebih 36.550 narapidana dalam upaya mati-matian untuk menghentikan virus Corona agar tidak tersebar di Lapas yang penuh sesak, kata Rika Aprianti, Kabag Humas Direktorat Jenderal Pemasyarakatan - Kemenkumham.
Para tahanan yang telah menjalani dua pertiga dari hukuman mereka pada Desember akan dibebaskan di bawah asimilasi dan program reintegrasi, kata Kemenkumham dalam pernyataan resminya. Dikatakan narapidana remaja yang ditetapkan telah menjalani setengah dari hukuman penjara mereka pada Desember juga akan dibebaskan.
Indonesia mencatat 3.842 kasus Covid-19 yang dikonfirmasi pada Sabtu, mencatat 327 kematian seperti dikutip Associated Press yang dilansir MailOnline.
ANGRY INMATES set fire to an overcrowded prison on Indonesia´s Sulawesi island during a riot erupted late Saturday over measures imposed to contain the coronavirus, officials said.
Hundreds of police and soldiers were deployed to take control of Tuminting prison in Manado city, the capital of North Sulawesi province, which is designed to house 490 inmates but now has more than 550, said Lukmasono, the head of Justice and Human Rights provincial office.
Lukmasono, who goes by a single name, a preliminary investigation revealed that many inmates, mostly drug offenders, were angered by restrictions on family visits and envious following the early release of 115 inmates to curb the spread of the coronavirus in prisons.
They went on the rampage and started fires, and other inmates joined the protest and it turned violent, but there were no reports of deaths, Lukmasono said.
Television video showed prisoners in an open field under heavy guard by soldiers while orange flames and black smoke billow from a building, and burned office equipment, documents and broken glass are scattered around the prison.
Indonesia has released more than 36,550 inmates in a desperate bid to stop coronavirus from rampaging through its notoriously overcrowded prison system, said Rika Aprianti, the directorate general of Corrections at Justice and Human Rights spokesperson.
Inmates due to have served two-thirds of their sentences by December will be freed under assimilation and reintegration programs, the ministry said in a decree. It said juvenile inmates set to have served half their jail terms by December will also be released.
Indonesia recorded 3,842 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Saturday, with 327 deaths.
Jailbreaks and riots are common in Indonesia, where overcrowding has become a problem in prisons that are struggling with poor funding and large numbers of people arrested in a war on illegal drugs.
