第 54 卷 第 5 期
2019 年 10 月
JOURNAL OF SOUTHWEST JIAOTONG UNIVERSITY
Vol. 54 No. 5
Oct. 2019
ISSN: 0258-2724 DOI：10.35741/issn.0258-2724.54.5.38
Research article Economics
T
HE
I
MPLICATIONS OF
O
VERCROWDING FOR
F
OSTERING
P
RISONERS IN
P
RISON
:
M
ANAGEMENT AND
S
YSTEMS
P
ROBLEMS
监狱过度拥挤对监狱的影响：管理和系统问题
Dey Ravena, Ade Mahmud Faculty of Law, Universitas Islam Bandung
Jalan Tamansari no.1 Bandung 40116, Indonesia, [email protected]
Abstract
The problem of overcrowding stems from the overcrowding capacity of the Penitentiary, thus raising various problems and relegating correctional goals to a forgotten concept. Against this backdrop, the current study is aimed at determining the implications of correctional overcrowding of prison institutions in the process of fostering inmates and finding solutions in order to improve management and correctional systems in the future. This study adopts a normative approach using qualitatively analyzed secondary data. The results show that the overcrowding problem has seriously adverse implications for coaching programs, causing illness, triggering disturbances between prisoners, burdening state finances each year, and transferring prisoners to other prisons, which, in turn, makes it difficult for families to visit inmates. These problems are preventing the coaching process from achieving the goal of criminal justice. Efforts to overcome the problem of overcrowding include reducing the use of imprisonment sanctions and making replacements in the form of other sanctions that have deterrent power, building new buildings accompanied by facilities that support the basic needs of prisoners, reforming management or a system starting from strengthening the prison officers' integrity, improving the quality of coaching programs, and ensuring welfare of officers.
Keywords: Overcrowding, Prison, Management, System, Prisoner
摘要 监狱人满为患的问题源于监狱的人满为患，从而引发了各种各样的问题，并将惩教目标归于被遗 忘的概念。在这种背景下，当前的研究旨在确定监狱机构教养过度拥挤在培养囚犯和寻找解决方 案的过程中的意义，以改善未来的管理和教养系统。本研究采用定性方法，使用定性分析的辅助 数据。结果表明，人满为患的问题严重影响了教练计划，导致疾病，引发囚犯之间的混乱，每年 增加国家财政负担，将囚犯转移到其他监狱，从而使家庭难以探视囚犯。这些问题阻碍了辅导过 程实现刑事司法目标。克服拥挤问题的努力包括减少对监禁制裁的使用，以具有威慑力的其他制 裁形式进行替代，建造新建筑物，并配备满足囚犯基本需求的设施，改革管理或从加强开始的制
度监狱官员的廉正，提高辅导计划的质量，并确保官员的福利。
关键词: 人满为患，监狱，管理，系统，囚犯
I. INTRODUCTION
Criminal sanctions are known to be one of the commonly used methods used to achieve the goal of punishment. However, the actual provision of a crime has become a problem and elicited much introspection from legal to identify the reasons and conditions that cause a person to be convicted of a crime. Under the classical theory of crime, it is viewed as the cause of the suffering of others, so that suffering must be repaid with suffering [1]. Discussions about punishment from a legal and moral standpoint are two distinct yet inextricable parts. On the one hand, the law may justify certain criminal convictions, but on the other hand, the moral values of the people prevent them from accepting the same. Contrastingly, the moral rectitude of people makes criminal convictions a viable option, but law must still formulate them [2].
For Indonesia, which has a state based on the ideology of Pancasila, new thoughts about the criminal function which are no longer just deterrence-centric, but also signify an effort to rehabilitate and reintegrate social prisoners have given birth to a formation system called a penal system, which has been known for more than thirty years. In addition to aiming to restore prisoners as good citizens, the penitentiary system also aims to protect the public against the possibility of a recurrence of criminal acts by prisoners, and is an inseparable part of the values espoused by Pancasila.
In the penitentiary system, Prisoners, Correctional Students, or Correctional Clients have the right to receive spiritual and physical development and be guaranteed their rights to practice worship, deal with external parties (both families and other parties), obtain information through printed and electronic media, obtain decent education, and so on. To guarantee the implementation of these rights, a Penitentiary Technical Implementation Unit is held, which directly carries out guidance and is provided by
the Correctional Advisory Center, which provides advice and consideration to the Minister regarding the implementation of the correctional system and the Correctional Observer Team that administers advice on the Correctional Guidance Program in each Unit Technical Implementer and various other supporting facilities [3].
In the implementation of the correctional system in Indonesia, a number of serious problems arose—in terms of both policies and systems—that could not be resolved, such as the placement of prisoners in prison, or the placement of a prisoner in a detention house. Both of these problems are clearly wrong, legally and in terms of the function of detention centers and correctional institutions. Another problem that has not yet been resolved is the problem of overcapacity. The availability of correctional facilities is far less than the number of prisoners [4]. This problem creates the condition of overcrowding. The overcrowding referred to here is a crisis situation due to an imbalance between the number of prisons and prisoners. Until now, there has been no comprehensive government solution to overcome the problems of management and the procurement system; so far, the improvement of this condition is patchy and inconsistent. The overload of occupants haunts almost all detention centers and prisons throughout Indonesia.
Based on data from the Directorate General of Corrections, the increase in the number of prisoners and detainees is far higher than the capacity of prisons and detention centers. In 2019, the number of prisons and remand centers in Indonesia amounted to 522 with a capacity of 126,994 people. Today, the prison and remand center content now amount to 262,925 people, so it has been over capacity by 107% [5]. Nationally, there are 10 prisons and remand centers with the highest overcrowded rates, as shown in Table 1.
Table 1.
Prisons and detention centers with the highest overcrowded rate in 2019 [5]
No Unit technical implementer Number of occupants Capacity Overcrowded Number of officers
1 Bagan Siapi-Api 799 98 715% 36
2 Langsa 497 63 689% 48
3 Prison Class of IIA Labuhan Baku 2.240 300 640% 49 4 Prison Class of IIB Tanjungbalai 1.471 198 643% 110
5 Prison Class of IIA Tanjungbalai Banjarmasin
2.674 366 631% 112
6 Bireuen Prison 435 65 569% 40
7 Teluk Kuantan Prison 363 53 568% 46
8 Prison Class of IIA Jambi 1412 218 548% 149
9 Prison Class of IIB Takengon 408 65 528% 26
10 Prison Class of IIA Bandar Lampung
1044 168 521% 90
The data in Table 1 show that the existing conditions for prisoners and detainees being held on remand are very far from ideal. Overcrowding raises the average number of prisoners and detainees per security officer to an unacceptable level. Whereas current conditions dictate that each security officer must supervise 36 prisoners, the recommended ratio is 25 prisoners per officer. So it is clear that prison overcrowding has quite an impact on the issue of security. At the same time, prisoners and detainees in overcrowded conditions are subject to higher stress and are more susceptible to diseases. Data from the Directorate of Care and Rehabilitation for the years 2015-2019 revealed the range of serious diseases that had afflicted prison and remand center residents, including hepatitis, tuberculosis, HIV, heart disease and vascular illness, breathing problems, digestive issues, and cancer. These diseases caused the deaths of some prisoners and detainees in 2019 which numbered 176 prisoners [5].
Overcrowding has also caused serious problems for the ongoing prisoner-coaching program—problems that have a direct impact on planning and oversight at correctional institutions. A number of questions arise: Is the failure of the coaching program due entirely to overcrowding in prisons? What are the implications of overcrowding when it comes to fostering inmates’ well-being? What steps have been taken to address the problems of prison management, including the bad conduct of some of the officers, the failures of the prisoner-training program, and other issues? These questions can be answered only through a comprehensive investigation of the actual data, so that the problem of overcrowding can be resolved and the penitentiary system can achieve its objectives in accordance with the ideals of justice. So the purpose of this article is to analyze the implications of overcrowding on the process of fostering prisoners and find efforts to improve management and systems to overcome the problem of overcrowding in the penal system in Indonesia.
II. METHOD
This research is a legal research because it examines the rule of law for solving the problems studied by using literature and other sources [6]. In this study, the authors use:
A. Research Approach
This study uses a normative approach. Soetandyo Wignjosoebroto [7] assessed that law is not only the norm or legal method in the form of written statutory regulations, but also the principles and decisions of judges. This study examines the norms or methods in Act No. 12 of 1995 concerning correctional institutions and the principles of the penal system.
B. Research Specifications
The specification of this study is analytical descriptive because it will illustrate facts relating to the overcrowding problem in the penal system and then analyze the fact using various theories and regulations that are closely related to the problems raised.
C. Data Types
The type of data used in this study is secondary data sourced from primary legal materials, such as Law No. 12 of 1995 concerning Penal Institutions and secondary legal materials that can provide an explanation of primary legal materials such as books, journals, papers, and research results related to correctional institutions. It also examines tertiary legal materials that can provide instruction and explanation for primary and secondary legal materials, such as legal dictionaries and magazines.
D. Data Collection Techniques
The data collection techniques used in this is literature study that analyzed sources of scientific theoretical readings such as books and local and international scientific journals that discussed narcotics issues, papers that had been disseminated and could be used as a basis for research.
The method of analysis uses qualitative methods, a method of research that produces descriptive analytical data, because it does not use formulas and numbers using deductive thinking methods.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
A. Implications of Overcrowding Against theProcess of Guiding Prisoners in Penitentiaries in Indonesia
The problem of crime is a necessity in social life. Evil cannot be eliminated, but can only be reduced in quantity and quality. The statement can be empirically proven since humans were born until now crime continues to exist and become even more complex [8]. Providing crimes as suffering for perpetrators of crimes should be seen as ultimum remidium or a last resort should be used to improve human behavior [9]. Perpetrators of crime must be held accountable for the mistakes they have done [10]. The results to be achieved in punishment are returning prisoners to the community system as good citizens and protecting the community from repetition of criminal acts [11].
Criminological and penological knowledge production is bound up with the power to punish and the “practices deployed by the state to discipline individuals and govern populations” [12]. Sentencing is the forum in which the community acts in its most coercive manner against its citizens. The United States inflicts more deliberate institutionalized punishment on its people than any other country in the world, and by a large margin [13]. In the late eighteenth century, advocates began employing legal, moral, and efficiency-based arguments to challenge debtors' prisons in England [14].
The existence of correctional facilities is still concerning because there are many penitentiary buildings which are inadequate old buildings, inadequate room layout, "MCK" facilities, lack of food provided, the number of supervisors, and the comparison of the number of prisoners being coached. Until now, there has been no standardization of the condition of correctional institutions that are considered adequate and meet the prerequisites to support the achievement of correctional goals.
Crowding or density is a psychological state that occurs when the demand for space exceeds the available supply. Someone who does not spend too much time in high population density can weaken mentally and physically in health, task performance, child development, and social interaction [15], [24]. Individuals in some
cultures seem to cope better with high densities, but when the body's sensory system overloads, the stimulus and lack of personal control leads to many negative impacts. When people feel crowded or are experiencing psychological stress, they show negative emotions, tension, anxiety, and nonverbal signs of nervousness, such as anxiety or repeatedly playing with objects. Crowding is consistently related to social withdrawal. Coping mechanisms are characterized by reduced eye contact, maintaining greater interpersonal distance, and clearer inhibition in starting a conversation.
The problem of overcrowding, based on the Task Force Team of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, has various implications, namely: 1) Differences in treatment between fellow prisoners; 2) The psychological impact of officers who should have been educating instead became service providers; 3) Triggering bribes between inmates and officers to get better services; 4) For prisoners who can not afford this a burden because they are always involved in the practice of financing prison facilities and become an arena for extortion; 5) The process of formation and correctional goals become a forgotten thing.
In this study the authors identify the various direct implications of the overcrowding problem as a situation of dehumanization that is both worrying and inhibits and even thwarts the guidance process and criminal purpose because it is factually revealed that the coaching process in prisons does not work well because there are too many inmates. Direct training programs cover work, skills, personality development, and poor medical and social rehabilitation. For example, in the process of social guidance ideally 1: 5 but the facts show 1: 43. For coaching officers ideally 1: 20 in fact 1: 37 [5]. The imbalance between the number of officers and the number of prisoners clearly will not produce an ideal quality of coaching, because the success of the coaching process is quite dependent on the readiness of officers both in quality and quantity, supported by the availability of supporting facilities for activities.
Second, overcrowding conditions cause health problems. In 2019, several identified diseases were caused by the limited space for prisoners in cells. According to the Directorate of Health Care and Rehabilitation of Prisons and Remand Centers throughout Indonesia, many prisoners contract hepatitis, tuberculosis, HIV, problems with heart and blood vessels, cancer, and digestive issues. Yet, tuberculosis, respiratory, digestive, cardiac, neurological diseases are the
main causes of death in prisoners and detainees [5]. Cases of death due to respiratory and digestive problems have become commonplace in prison, so that prisoners who have weak physical conditions will be susceptible to disease and even threatened with death. The overcrowding condition has made prison a place to pick up death and be away from human values.
Third, the high number of riots in various prisons occur due to large friction that exists between inmates and the struggle for food, beds, bathrooms, and many other things. The overpopulation of prisons in Indonesia has a direct impact on the practice of commodification of prisons. In addition, there is the problem with the corrupt nature of the elements who seek profit. Overcrowding clearly results in the inadequacy of proper services and facilities for fostered residents. Overcrowding also causes the minimum service standards for prisons to decrease at increasingly alarming levels. Basic services in the form of drinking water, food, communication, sleeping space, including health will receive a direct impact. The state has had difficulty in financing prison spending to meet this minimum standard. This situation encourages fostered residents to look for alternatives in supporting the minimum standard of living in prison. This situation finally encourages life support from outside parties, namely the families of the assisted residents. The problem is, this family support will surely depend on the economic conditions of each, there are rich and many poor. This has made the provision of certain facilities a fertile commodity for corrupt prison officers. Prisoners who are classified as having stronger financial capabilities will bribe officers to get more adequate facilities and even tend to be luxurious.
Fourth, the problem that is often missed is the issue of the amount of costs that must be incurred by the state to finance inmates in prisons. It should be noted that fostered citizens who are in prison are the responsibility of the state, so that all types of funding from food to medicine must be borne by the state. The greater the number of occupants, the greater the cost borne by the state. In the past three years, the costs of providing food to prisoners have continued to increase. In 2017, these resources were valued at Rp. 1,088,350,649; in 2018, this number increased to 1,642,469,705,000; and in 2019, the cost reached 1,792,071,850,000. In the case of remand centers, the state must pay Rp. 23,000 per day, excluding the cost of care and treatment for sick residents As a result, the costs borne by the state to foster prisoners are quite large; however, if the
conditions are overcrowding, the expenditure will be inconsistent with the expected results.
Fifth, an excess of occupants results in a large number of prisoners and detainees having to be transferred, because overcrowded conditions make it impossible to carry out a coaching program. This policy is positive, but it causes losses to outsiders, especially families. This problem limits the interaction and communication of fostered citizens with their families and relatives. Families who want to visit must ultimately pay more because they have to travel long distances to visit their families. This practice then unfairly punishes the family of the occupants, due to the large number of prison and remand center residents.
B. Management and System Improvement Efforts to Overcome Overcrowding in Penitentiary Systems in Indonesia
The main objective of the penitentiary is to provide guidance for correctional prisoners based on the system, institutions, and ways of coaching as the final part of the criminal justice system. In the penitentiary, various training programs are prepared for prisoners according to their level of education, gender, religion, and criminal act committed. As the final agent in the process of guiding prisoners toward better futures, correctional institutions must seriously consider the rights and interests of incarcerated populations. We must admit that the role of correctional institutions in the fostering of prisoners is strategic and dominant, especially in regard to the restoration of prisoners to civilian life and providing guidance in the fields of spirituality and hard skills (such as carpentry, sewing, and so on) [16].
Reorientation and re-evaluation of criminal matters—especially through legislation—is a necessary outcome in connection with community development and increased crime in Indonesia and internationally [17]. In its development, the concept of restorative justice emerged as a form of settlement for both criminal and civil cases that involves all parties [18]. Prison is seen as a punishment that can be detrimental to the offender. Imprisonment is associated with the deterioration of a prisoner's financial situation. Prisoners who were employed before being detained often miss out on income during their imprisonment and run the risk of losing their jobs [19].
Re-examining correctional facilities as punishment in the present context, as well as examining the institutional problems associated with them, suggests that the government must
consider revising the approach to correctional facilities. The concept of correctional facilities is essentially a concept of resocialization: "correctional" refers to the process of rehabilitating prisoners so that they can become good and useful citizens via healthy reentry into the community. The theory of resocialization as a goal of punishment is basically a concept asserting that punishment by means of socialization can basically destroy the offender (punishment should help the delinquent overcome his social mal-adjustment) [20].
Improving the management of correctional systems requires an extraordinary determination to change and update future correctional institutions. The current condition of correctional institutions reflects the impact of government policies that neglect these institutions. An institution that functions as the final phase in the criminal justice system, the correctional facility is lacking necessary attention, thus resulting in incomplete and inadequate regulation of correctional institutions. The minimum standard rules for the treatment of prisoners require that the needs of prisoners should be met by the government in order to support the ongoing coaching process. Policies that can support these conditions include management of prisoners' guidance systems, funding issues for the availability of facilities, their infrastructure, and staff welfare [21].
It is important to realize that the unsavory conditions in correctional institutions are not only caused by incomplete policies. Human resource departments are not always able to translate an institution's objectives, but officials must nevertheless fulfill their respective roles in supporting the achievement of coaching goals. On various occasions, the process of coaching and training prison staff has been successful, but the problem within the institution remains; therefore, the responsibility of officers is not simply understanding a situation, as the problems that occur in prisons are not simply limited to improving welfare and knowledge. Thus, a positive attitude and common sense become integral to the efficacy of achieving goals. Prison officers serve as a clear example for how prisoners should act, and it is impossible for the coaching process to be achieved if what is reflected by prison personnel counteracts those goals.
Based on the description of various problems in correctional institutions, several efforts can be made to overcome the overcrowding of correctional institutions, namely:
First, it must be honestly acknowledged that the Indonesian judiciary has produced many convicts who eventually enter prison. Public perception considers the success of the criminal justice system as measured by how many people can be punished, even though the success of the justice system is actually measured by the breadth of the judicial process. The intensity of the judicial process, for example, can influence the public not to commit a crime and, thus, deter potential perpetrators from becoming criminals. As such, providing sanctions offers objectives for general prevention and special prevention. Punishing the perpetrators of crime is not the only solution to resolve the overall problem of crime; punishing as many people as possible actually adds to the problem because the prison is no longer able to accommodate the convicted person. At present, there is a shift in perspective occurring on how to deal with social problems from the initial use of civil or administrative legal instruments to criminal legal instruments. Criminal law is no longer treated as the last resort or ultimum remedium in tackling crime but as
premum remedium [22]. The majority of
decisions made by a judge takes the form of a prison sentence and a fine, although the decision is often lighter than the charges in the indictment filed by the public prosecutor [23]. The penitentiary is situated at the end of the criminal justice system. In order to solve the overcrowding problem, it must be addressed from its head. As soon as possible, the sub-judicial system of the police, prosecutors and courts should reform to use criminal sanctions as a last resort (ultimum remidium) and instead use alternative criminal settlement solutions such as mediation with the idea of restorative justice. In this way, the number of convicts entering prison can be reduced. Judges need to consider the impact of a person being convicted of a criminal offense and other problems imposed on a penal institution when carrying out a sentence. That does not mean that a person found guilty of committing a crime must be acquitted, but law enforcement can use other alternatives to hold them legally liable. Legal responsibility is not solely imprisonment.
Second, the policy that needs reform is the one that governs decisions of when to add buildings or build a number of detention and prison technical implementing units in all regions of Indonesia. It is noteworthy that increasing the number of remand centers or prisons to overcome overcrowding will not succeed if it is not preceded by the necessary steps discussed above. The policy to increase the number of prisons or
remand centers is carried out proportionally, measured and in stages according to the budgetary capabilities of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. Building new prisons or remand centers should start with areas where inventory efforts show prisons or remand centers always experience high levels of overcapacity. Building new prisons or remand centers or increasing the number of buildings is considered as the main solution to reduce the gap between the number of prisoners and building availability. To achieve this goal, appropriate construction of new buildings must be equipped with various facilities that can accommodate the basic rights of prisoners such as the availability of clean water, bathrooms, places of worship, workshops, arts, plantations and other facilities as needed. The availability of facilities aims to meet the basic needs of prisoners and avoid riots due to fighting over clean water, beds, and food. In terms of health facilities, these can create a healthy environment and reduce the incidence of disease, which has been the main cause of death for convicted persons. The construction of the building along with its facilities can avoid disruption to prisoners and detainees so that access to communication with their families can continue as normal, and, most importantly, the addition of facilities can support the implementation of the coaching process so that the goal of punishment is no longer a forgotten thing.
Third, improvement of management and the correctional system towards an ideal system is a must by fixing various deficiencies such as security systems, social guidance, general guidance, administration and healthcare. Improving management and the system starts from the adequacy of the number of personnel assigned to certain units – if it is fulfilled then each prison or remand center must improve the quality of understanding of each officer on the purpose of the penal system. So far, prison officers only know about the purpose of correctional facilities, but they do not fully understand their duties and responsibilities so they are unable to set a good example for prisoners. For example, in 2018, the findings of the investigation team of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights found that prisoners of corruption cases got luxury facilities in Sukamiskin prison, were distributing narcotics and in possession of sharp weapons; this condition occurred because there was a practice of bribery between prisoners and prison officers. Trading for luxury facilities in prison has become a normal phenomenon and always involves
prison staff; the coaching process will not be achieved if there is still corrupt behavior of prison staff. The improvement of the quality of correctional officers can be achieved by conducting security system training, community guidance, coaching and improving administration. If mental health problems and problems with facilities are resolved, improvement of management and the system will be easy to implement – for example, with the adequacy of existing facilities, officers can separate prisoners into those of recidivist status and non-recidivist status, segregation based on qualifications of severe and minor penalties, types of criminal offenses, age of prisoners and gender. Likewise, the process of coaching officers can classify the interests of prisoners' talents and direct them to do work that supports efforts to increase production. At present, of the 522 technical implementer units spread throughout Indonesia, only 11 are able to produce handicraft products, which are exported to various countries such as France, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, Malaysia, the United States, Dubai, China and South Korea; the rest have not been able to produce competitive products because the management and correctional system has not been supported by the various facilities needed [5].
Fourth, improvement of staff welfare is needed. Welfare problems often cause prison officers to engage in bribery practices so that the correctional staff benefit policy needs to be redone to increase staff allowances in the hope of closing the offer and temptation of bribery, but if there is an increase in welfare that does not influence the strengthening of integrity, punishment must be applied. Thus, in the process of improving management and correctional systems, the principle of reward and punishment must be applied. For officers with good achievements in the field of security, social counselors and coaching are appreciated. On the other hand, officers involved in violating the law must receive punishment.
IV. CONCLUSION
The problem of overcrowding in correctional institutions has a number of implications. First, work, skills, medical and social rehabilitation programs are not going well because there is a gap between the number of prisoners and prison staff. Second, the conditions of overcrowding cause tuberculosis, HIV, respiratory and digestive diseases. These diseases thrive in prison and can even result in death of prisoners and detainees, in which case that prison or remand center is no
longer a healthy place. Third, overcrowding can trigger riots because the rights of prisoners are not fulfilled and it can increase the practice of extortion and fights between prisoners. Fourth, the problem of overcrowding burdens countries with high costs of financing the needs of prisoners. Over the last three years, the cost of providing prisoners food has increased. In 2017, it was valued at $1,088,350,649,000 in 2018, it increased to $1,642,469,705,000 and in 2019, it reached $1,792,071,850,000. The funds that the country pays for food costs in prisons and remand centers comes to $23,000 per day, and this value does not include health and other costs. Fifth, the problem of overcrowding makes communication and interaction of prisoners with families difficult because the government has a policy of moving some prisoners to places far from home. As a result, families get punished and these problems have a direct impact on the rehabilitation process. The problems of overcrowding in the penal system in Indonesia can be addressed in several ways, namely: a) reducing convictions to stem the high number of convicts who enter prison--criminal offenders can be asked for other forms of legal responsibility without having to go through prison; b) add new buildings or build penitentiaries where inventory efforts consistently show the highest overcrowded rates--when new prisons are built, health problems can be resolved; c) improve management and security systems, guidance, administration and health--improving the management system starts by having an adequate number of officers, followed by an increase in the integrity and quality of understanding of the officers regarding the objectives of the penal system; d) enhancing the welfare of officers coupled with provisions for reward and punishment so that prison officers know how to improve their performance in guiding prisoners.
