KPK slams rampant graft in prisons

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Abraham Samad said on Thursday that many wealthy and powerful graft convicts could still breathe the air of freedom while serving their prison time.

Speaking during a seminar on corruption in Jakarta, Samad said that some graft convicts were able to sleep in their houses even when they were supposed to spend their nights in prison as they bribed officers at the penitentiaries.

“They pay the law enforcers so that they don’t have to spend a single night at the prison,” he told the seminar at Hotel Borobudur in Central Jakarta.

According to Samad, the wealthy graft convicts “vanish” after daily sunset prayer (sholat magrib). “After a routine check in the evening, the wealthy graft convicts return to their houses and go back to the prisons at dawn,” he said.

“Just stay in front of some prisons during the night and you will see cars exiting the penitentiaries after the prayer.”

Therefore, the prison bars have failed to scare people, especially the rich ones, from committing graft, Samad said. “They’re just like regular people who commute to their offices in the morning and in the evening. They can even go to shopping malls,” he said, declining to mention any names of the specific convicts. “After they have served their prison time, they can still enjoy the immense amount of illicit money they obtained.”

Besides bribing their way out of jail, some convicts use other methods to avoid having to sleep behind bars, according to Samad.

“You can see that some of them pretend to be ill,” he said.

With corruption rampant within correctional facilities, the KPK decided to build their own detention centers, one in the basement of the antigraft body’s headquarters, and another one at the newly-renovated military prison facility in Guntur, South Jakarta, said Samad.

The detention centers, however, were only for graft suspects. Those who had been convicted had to be transferred to penitentiaries, he added.

The corrupt practices at some penitentiaries had been acknowledged by the Law and Human Rights Ministry, Samad said.

“Law and Human Rights Deputy Minister Denny Indrayana called me yesterday and said that he was overwhelmed in handling such cases because it was difficult to monitor the convicts,” he said.
And thus, Denny asked the KPK to send back some graft convicts, including former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin, to the antigraft body’s detention centers, said Samad.
Denny, however, refuted Samad’s allegations. “If his words are true then I want to ask him, which convicts? Which prisons?” he told The Jakarta Post. “I doubt that he has solid data [to back up his allegations].”

He also called on Samad to submit data and proof on the allegation to the ministry. “We will surely follow up on the reports. And if the reports are true, then we will impose a heavy penalty on the corrupt staffers,” he said.

It is believed that corruption has long plagued the country’s prison system. A number of graft convicts have been revealed to be enjoying some freedom while they were supposed to be behind the bars.

Gayus H. Tambunan, a former tax official convicted in a large-scale corruption scandal, allegedly bribed a chief prison warden to be temporarily released for trips to Bali and abroad in 2010.
Nazaruddin, meanwhile, allegedly abused sick notes from the National Police Soekamto Hospital to get out of Cipinang Penitentiary where he was imprisoned and spend a week at Abdi Waluyo Hospital earlier this year.

source : jakarta post (http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/05/10/kpk-slams-rampant-graft-prisons.html)