Cipinang Penitentiary Institution

Cipinang Penitentiary Institution
Lembaga Pemasyarakatan Cipinang
Map
Security classClass I
Capacity1,500[1]
Population4,000 (as of 2007[1])
Street addressCipinang Muara, Jatinegara
CityEast Jakarta
State/provinceJakarta
CountryIndonesia
Websitelapascipinang.kemenkumham.go.id
Notable prisoners
Pramoedya A. Toer, Xanana Gusmão, Abu Bakar Bashir

Cipinang Penitentiary Institution (Indonesian: Lembaga Pemasyarakatan Cipinang) is a top-security prison in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is exactly located in Cipinang Muara, Jatinegara, East Jakarta.

History

The prison was built by the Dutch colonial administration, during the Indonesian National Revival. It held Indonesian nationalist leaders such as Mohammed Hatta. Following Indonesian independence, the prison continued to be used by authorities. Communists and leftists arrested in the 1951 mass arrests in Indonesia were detained there, as was the novelist Pramoedya A. Toer in 1961 for criticizing the Sukarno administration's anti-Chinese policies.[2]

Human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch alleged that the Suharto administration used Cipinang and other prisons to silence opponents from the Sukarno administration and Irian Jaya.[3] In their annual report for 2005, AI also spoke of routine torture and ill-treatment. The organization said of Cipinang and other prisons:

According to a survey conducted by a local non-governmental organization, over 81 percent of prisoners arrested between January 2003 and April 2005 in Salemba detention centre, Cipinang prison, and Pondok Bambu prison, all in Jakarta, were tortured or ill-treated. About 64 percent were tortured or ill-treated during interrogation, 43 percent during arrest, and 25 percent during detention.[4]

During the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, East Timorese independence activists, such as Xanana Gusmão (later President of East Timor), were housed in the jail. Others imprisoned at Cipinang for political activity include political dissidents Asep Suryaman,[5] Sri Bintang Pamungkas, and labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan.[6] After Suharto's resignation in 1998, new President Jusuf Habibie released Pamungkas, Pakpahan, and Gusmão.[7]

Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader of Islamist terrorist group, Jemaah Islamiyah, was imprisoned in Cipinang. He was released after serving 26 months for conspiracy relating to the 2002 Bali bombing.

Today

The jail holds 4,000 prisoners in a facility designed to hold 1,500.[1] Well-connected prisoners are often able to obtain superior accommodation.[8] The former governor of Jakarta, Ahok, was imprisoned here,[9] but was released in January 2019 after receiving a two-month remission.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailweekly.asp?fileid=20070801.@02 Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine Jakarta Post August 1, 2007 "Two inmates killed in gang fight"
  2. ^ from the Jakarta Post Archived 2021-03-11 at the Wayback Machine "Author Pramoedya in a coma" April 30, 2006
  3. ^ Amnesty International article[permanent dead link‍]; Human Rights Watch Report
  4. ^ "Amnesty International Annual Report for Indonesia, 2005". Archived from the original on 2007-08-07. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
  5. ^ Amnesty International http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA210011998?open&of=ENG-376 Archived 2006-07-24 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ iht.com: But the Pressure for Change May Be Irreversible : Jakarta Faces a Long Slog To Establish Democracy International Herald Tribune, May 27, 1998.
  7. ^ iht.com: But the Pressure for Change May Be Irreversible : Jakarta Faces a Long Slog To Establish Democracy International Herald Tribune, May 27, 1998. See also: Rights and Democracy "Muchtar Pakpahan, leading Indonesian political prisoner, is released from prison" "Rights & Democracy | Media Centre". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
  8. ^ "Return of the Cendana Prince," by Tempo magazine Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine; also posted: www.kabar-irian.info Archived 2007-10-07 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Jon Emont (2021-12-01) [2017-05-09]. "Jakarta's Christian governor sentenced to prison in blasphemy case". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.[please check these dates]
  10. ^ "Dapat Remisi 2 Bulan, Ahok Bebas pada Januari 2019". 17 August 2018.

6°12′54″S 106°53′06″E / 6.215°S 106.885°E / -6.215; 106.885