Pamekasan Prison for Drug Convicts Focuses on Rehabilitation

Jakarta Globe, Jun 09, 2015

The newly-opened Pamekasan prison focuses on rehabilitation of
drug-addicted inmates. (AFP Photo/Romeo Gacad)

Jakarta. Justice Minister Yasonna Laoly has opened a prison in Pamekasan district on Madura Island that will specifically focus on rehabilitating drug-addicted inmates.

Yasonna said the government was waging a war on drugs, but it was also trying to help drug addicts by providing rehabilitation centers.

Inmates that are drug addicts needed to get rehabilitated, he said.

“I hope that rehabilitation process could help reduce the number of drug addicts in Indonesia,” Yosanna told Tempo.co on Tuesday.

The Pamekasan facility covers 43,574 square meters and can accommodate 1,235 inmates.

“This prison was specially built for drug-addict inmates. The construction spent Rp 94 billion ($7 million). The budget was taken from the state budget,” said I Wayah Dusak, the head of East Java’s Justice Ministry Office.

The new prison is the sixth prison in East Java that is focused specifically on rehabilitation.

End Death Penalty, Adopt Anti-Drug Policies That Work, Experts Tell Jokowi

Jakarta Globe, Jun 05, 2015

Flowers are placed outside the Indonesian consulate in Sydney on April 29,
 following the execution of two Australian drug convicts Andrew Chan and Myuran
 Sukumaran in Indonesia. Indonesia executed seven foreign drug convicts
 including two Australians by firing squad on April 29, causing Canberra to
withdraw its ambassador over the 'cruel' punishment. (AFP Photo/Saeed Khan)

Jakarta. Prominent academics and experts have called on the Indonesian government to end the death penalty for drug offenses and commit to proven public health approaches to address drug use.

In an open letter to President Joko Widodo published in the June 6 edition of the British health journal The Lancet, the group called for the discontinuation of “strategies which have been found to be counterproductive such as involuntary rehabilitation and the death penalty.”

“A close examination of the nature and extent of drug use in Indonesia reveals substantial gaps in knowledge and a scarcity of evidence to support forced rehabilitation and the punitive, law enforcement-led approach favored by the government,” the letter said.

“The Indonesian government has shown increased commitment to addressing drug use and guaranteeing the well-being of its citizens, but in order to achieve this it must choose public health and harm reduction strategies,” Prof. Dr. Irwanto of the HIV and AIDS Research Center at Jakarta’s Atma Jaya University and a veteran drug and HIV researcher, one of the signatories of the letter, said in a statement.

“The current drug war approach has been a proven failure around the globe, even causing more harm than good,” he added.

Dr. Ignatius Praptoraharjo, a researcher at the Center for Health Policy and Management at the School of Medicine at Yogyakarta’s Gadjah Mada University, said the government had sidelined effective approaches to drug use in favor of a more punitive stance.

“We know what works: we already have the evidence and have been implementing health-focused programs that work in Indonesia since the early 2000s,” he said. “We have an ethical obligation to provide our citizens with options that save lives, such as needle syringe programs, opioid substitution therapy and community-based, voluntary drug treatment.

“But despite the proven success of these interventions, political commitment and funds are lacking, and current punitive strategies in Indonesia do not provide enough space for meaningful health programs. Our limited funds are instead being used to bolster fear-based approaches, which effectively drive people in need further away from health programs,” Ignatius said.

The letter said there was “evidence that criminalization of people who use drugs and punitive law-enforcement approaches have failed to reduce the prevalence of drug use and are fueling the HIV epidemic.”

The group also raised “serious concerns about the validity” of the figures for drug use and drug-related deaths frequently cited by the president and other officials to justify their hard-line approach to anti-narcotics enforcement, and urged the president to invest in more accurate data collection.

The group said it was concerned that the government was using the estimates as the basis for national policies without providing sufficient opportunity for independent peer review.

“Obtaining valid estimates of drug use is not an easy, straightforward process, yet we need to make sure that national policies are based on evidence that is thoroughly peer-reviewed and transparent,” Atma Jaya’s Irwanto said. “Each human life matters. Productive human lives may be compromised by misguided policies.”

Dr. Kemal Siregar, the secretary general of the National AIDS Commission, warned that drug users faced increasing stigma, discrimination and human rights violations as punitive drug control measures trumped public health.

“HIV infections will continue to rise as long as drug users continue to live in fear of arrest or placement in involuntary rehabilitation,” he said.

The signatories to the open letter, ranging from public health experts and researchers, to theologists and human rights activists, argued in favor of establishing an independent, multi-sectoral committee on drug use comprising relevant government agencies, ministries, researchers, service providers and community leaders tasked with reviewing available drug-related data, setting priorities, recommending evidence-informed actions and monitoring progress.

“As people who use drugs, we have seen and experienced for ourselves that repressive and punitive approaches have exacerbated drug-related deaths and harms such as HIV and hepatitis C transmission,” said Edo Agustian, the national coordinator of the Indonesian Drug Users Network.

“We urge the government to work together with drug-using communities, academics and other stakeholders to build a more effective response before any more lives are lost,” he said.

Further coverage

Editorial: Deal With the Drug Issue the Right Way

Related Article:

Indonesia, Netherlands Organize Harm Reduction Talks at UNODC

Narcotics Agency: Drugs Kill 33 Indonesians Daily, Not 40-50

BNN's latest data suggest lower number of Indonesian drug users than previously claimed by President Joko Widodo

Jakarta Globe, Erwida Maulia, Mar 10, 2015

New figures from the National Narcotics Agency, or BNN, suggest a slightly
declining pattern of drug use in Indonesia. (Antara Foto/Saptono)

Jakarta. Amid accusations that Indonesia has used faulty data to justify its executions of drug convicts on death row, the National Narcotics Agency, or BNN, suggested a modest decline in narcotics use in the country on Tuesday when it presented the latest relevant figures.

Bachtiar Tambunan, the deputy chief for community empowerment at BNN, said an estimated four million Indonesians were users of narcotics. This is a correction — albeit not drastic — to the figure that President Joko Widodo often cited to support his claims of Indonesia being in a state of emergency due to the supposedly high prevalence of drug abuse in the country.

Joko, in defense of his rejection of clemency appeals by drug convicts on death row, has said that 4.5 million out of 250 million Indonesians were drug users and that between 40 and 50 people died every day in the country because of drug abuse.

Bachtiar on Tuesday said Joko’s figures were based on data from a few years back. Last year, though, BNN conducted another joint study with the University of Indonesia (UI)’s Health Research Center, and the result showed a new estimate of 4 million drug-using Indonesians as well as a death rate estimated at 33 succumbing per day because of drug use.

BNN divides Indonesian drug users into three categories: those who have “ever tried” using drugs, totaling approximately 1.6 million people; “regular” users who number 1.4 million; and drug addicts who add up to 943,000 people. Men still dominate the statistics, representing 74.5 percent of the total number, while women account for just 25.5 percent.

The mortality rate is based on a combined number of deaths due to overdose, polydrug use — when two or more drugs are used at the same time or on the same occasion — and deaths because of relapse after a long hiatus, Bachtiar explained.

The BNN deputy chief added that marijuana, crystal methamphetamine and ecstasy pills remained the most popular products among Indonesian narcotics users. These users are estimated to consume a total of 14 million ecstasy pills per year, and use marijuana or crystal meth a total of 158 million and 219 million times per year, respectively.

“That is why we call this [drug situation] a state of emergency. During the past couple of months alone, BNN has seized more than one metric ton of crystal meth,” Bachtiar claimed. He added that children as young as 10 years old had been identified as drug users.

“The age of drug users ranges from ten to 59 years old,” Bachtiar said, citing several findings over the past few years on drug use by elementary school students in several regions, including Jakarta, Bekasi, Medan and Jambi.

Economic loss from narcotics problems in Indonesia is estimated to have reached Rp 63 trillion ($4.8 billion) last year, he added.

Bachtiar further said Indonesia’s problems with narcotics use continued to grow because of a number of factors, including law enforcement officers’ inability to distinguish drug users from traffickers, resulting in many who fall into the first category being sent to prison instead of rehab.

“And that worsens the situation. Because when sent to penitentiaries, drug users will learn how to traffic drugs from drug dealers, including foreigners, who have vast experience in inter-city and international trafficking,” Bachtiar asserted.

“Narcotics business generates quite a large sum of money so they can easily lure law enforcement officers [to help the business]…. Imprisoned drug dealers are often still involved in the drug trade [outside jail],” he added.

Bachtiar also said the development of rehab centers for drug addicts had been largely abandoned, adding that the government only began paying attention to this matter two years ago.

Indonesia this year is targeting to send 100,000 drug users to rehab.

“The president actually wants 400,000 people to be sent to rehab, but we don’t have enough rehab facilities yet. So rehabilitating 400,000 users will be our target for next year.”

Furthermore, Bachtiar threw his weight behind the death penalty for drug traffickers, saying he believed it could have a deterrent effect but only “if carried out consistently.”

Joko in December last year said that he had received clemency appeals from 64 inmates on death row in Indonesia, including drug and murder convicts, and that he would reject all of them.

This led to the executions of six inmates in January, including five foreigners, ending Indonesia’s unofficial moratorium on executions of death-row inmates.

The second round of executions of ten inmates – also mostly foreigners — was originally scheduled for last month but has been delayed following requests for review filed by some of the convicts.

Amid escalating diplomatic tension with several countries, including with Brazil and Australia, due to the executions or planned executions of their citizens, Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi repeatedly defended the Indonesian president’s war against drug crimes through capital punishment.

“There may be an impression as if we were happy [with the executions],” Retno said during a meeting with local media representatives in her office in Jakarta on Tuesday.

“I must emphasize that we’re not happy doing this. We don’t enjoy doing this. But this is the stance that the government is forced to take in order to enforce the law,” she added.

Related Articles:

Indonesia, Netherlands Organize Harm Reduction Talks at UNODC

UN Narcotics Agency Calling for Abolition of Death Penalty

Jokowi Promises War on Drugs for a ‘Golden Indonesia’

Jakarta Globe, Carlos Paath & Priska Sari Pratiwi, Feb 04, 2015

Indonesia's president has said that he will not commute any drug-trafficking
sentences. (AFP Photo/Romeo Gacad)

Jakarta. President Joko Widodo opened the 2015 National Coordination Meeting on Drugs on Wednesday promising a renewed commitment to fighting the war on drugs in Indonesia.

The meeting was attended by more than 20 governors and a total of 300 mayors and was titled the “National Movement on Eradicating Drugs to Achieve a Golden Indonesia.”

“Indonesia is in a state of emergency regarding drugs,” the president said. “All governors, mayors, and regents need to work together to fight drugs together. We should not tolerate drugs.

“Each day, there are 50 people dying from using drugs and in a year, there could be up to 18 thousand people dead,” he added.

The president reiterated his stance that convicted drug traffickers would not be spared from the firing squad, a policy that has drawn unanimous condemnation from human rights groups.

“I have told the presidents and prime ministers of the countries whose citizens are the convicts that there will be no forgiveness for drug-related cases,” Joko said.

Joko continues to prioritize fighting an aggressive battle against criminals involved in the drugs trade, but he has been less keen to take on the tobacco industry, which kills far more Indonesians every year than drugs.

“There are 4.2 million people in rehabilitation centers. That’s a big number. If we can’t be decisive about eradicating drugs, the problem will never be over,” Joko said.

To deal with the growing number of drug users, the National Narcotics Board, or BNN, will increase the capacity of its rehabilitation facilities.

“Drug users need to be treated in rehabilitation centers,” BNN head Comr. Gen. Anang Iskandar said. “They will not get better if we put them in jail. We admit that we still lack of rehabilitation centers. That’s why we need everyone in the country to work together with us.”

Indonesia was roundly condemned in January when it executed six people convicted of drug-trafficking. The governments of the Netherlands and Brazil both withdrew their ambassadors for consultations after a Dutchman and a Brazilian were killed by firing squad.

Drug Users Should Go to Rehab, Not Jail: BNN

Jakarta Globe, Bayu Marhaenjati, June 13, 2013

Indonesian officials with the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) test
 methamphetamine during a press conference in Jakarta on Feb. 7, 2013.
(AFP Photo/ Adek Berry).

In a stark contrast to current judicial trends in Indonesia, the chief of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) has advocated for rehabilitation-based treatment for drug users rather than incarceration.

“Abusing drugs is illegal and clearly prohibited, but the proper punishment a judge should hand down [to drug abusers] is not prison, but rehabilitation,” Anang Iskandar, the head of the agency, said on Thursday.

Anang said there were still judges who preferred to punish drug abusers by ordering them to undergo jail time, even though the Supreme Court issued a regulation stipulating that a drug abuser should be rehabilitated.

“A judge may order a drug abuser to check into a rehab as long as they are not a trafficker, but unfortunately, there are still some judges who do not want to do that. It’s a shame, because it could help reduce the number of drug abusers,” he said.

Anang said that the BNN has been trying improve the competence of its staff in order to help more drug users.

“We want our staff to understand that their job is to bring the drug addicts in voluntarily and not by force,” he said.

According to a 2011 survey by the BNN, there are between 3.8 and 4.2 million illicit drug users in Indonesia.

Deputy Justice Minister Denny Indrayana previously said that sending drug addicts to prison hinders their chance of recovering and also crowds prisons and detention centers.

According to the deputy minister, drug offenders make up more than 40 percent of the 150,000 people detained in Indonesian jails.

No more prison for drug users: Supreme Court

The Jakarta Post | Fri, 03/20/2009 7:36 PM

The Supreme Court has distributed notification letters to all provincial court judges to no longer sentence drug users with imprisonment, but instead to issue court orders for medical treatments and rehabilitation.

The letters were signed by Supreme Justice Bagir Manan on Tuesday and later distributed to all heads of provincial courts in the country, Supreme Court spokesperson Djoko Sarwoko said on Friday.

Djoko said imprisoning drug users could no longer be considered an appropriate approach to tackle the problem of drug abuse.

“They are victims. They are ill, and therefore need treatment,” Djoko said at his office as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

The Court, he added, had deemed that imprisonment would have a negative impact on drug users and worsen their psychological condition.

“For first-timers and those who are underage, if they are jailed and placed with other convicts, it would be bad for them,” Djoko said.

The Court’s decision is in line with an article in the law on psychotropic substances which states that drug addicts can be sentenced with a court order for medical treatment and rehabilitation. (and)