Jail: Between Hope and Reality

Sunday, November 27, 2016 at secretariat

of Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta

A sequel discussions held on Sunday, November 27, 2016 at the secretariat of Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta still talked about a topic on Human Rights, which always become an interesting discussion because it is related with many things, such as a variety of perspectives and understanding, especially human and humanity.

Two experienced facilitators were invited to share their stories and experiences. First, Eko Prasetyo, S.H., activist of Social Movement Institute (SMI), Human Rights activist and an author and second, Edy Warsono, S.H. who worked in Coaching for Prisoners at Penitentiary Batu, Nusakambangan. Sixteen students from various campuses took part in this discussion. They wanted to know more about the dynamics of the implementation of human rights at this time, how is the life in prison and what happened to prison guards.

Eko Prasetyo, S.H., the first facilitator, explained special characteristics of human rights, such as 1) authentic, human rights are the rights of all human beings, 2) universal, human rights for everyone regardless of status, race, gender or other differences. Indeed, the equation is one of the ideas of human rights, 3) cannot be revoked, human rights cannot be revoked or be given, and 4) cannot be divided, that everyone is entitled to all rights, whether civil and political rights, economics, social and cultural rights.

The presence of Edy Warsono, S.H. from Penitentiary Batu, Nusakambangan provoked the curiosity of participants, which mostly were students. When they heard the term of 'Nusakambangan' the imagination of the participants directly went to prison, inmates, mysterious and scary island. It was not wrong because since 1908 the Netherlands government set Nusakambangan as 'Poelaoe Boei' (prison island). The Penitentiary Batu itself was categorized as a penitentiary with high security level (SMS-Super Maximum Security) because it consisted of prisoners having harsh punishment and high risk, such as subversive, drugs, terrorism, politics and murder. Edy Warsono worked as supervisor for prisoner of Penitentiary Batu, Nusakambangan and his task required him to interact with every prisoner there. Jail coaching according to him as he referred to Dr. Saharjo’s opinion, a pioneering figure of penitentiary system and ex-minister of Justice in Indonesia, 'Prisoners are lost people, they need time to repent, and repentance can not be achieved with torture, but with counseling”. Such thought was delivered at the conferring of honorary doctorates at University of Indonesia in 1963.

One of the participants, Danial H. Banju, a student of APMD told that he read news that sometimes someone who had been free from prison committed crimes again. So, is there any counseling in prison? Edy Warsono explained, "There is coaching for prisoners and it is held to guide prisoners to realize his mistake, to improve himself and not to repeat the crimes and try to be accepted by community, to  participate actively in development and to have normal life as a good and responsible citizen. However, it is often that society does not accept someone who was ex-prisoner. It is painful for him indeed. Therefore, the coaching also involves community, like our event today. People should know what happen in prison and try to accept someone who had been free", he said.

He also hoped that government would pay more attention to the existence of Penitentiary, because in fact the number of prisoners exceeds the capacity of the prison. The number of guards are not proportional to the number of prisoners, which actually faces high risk for the life of guards and employees. However, the government tightened budget for Penitentiary. He encouraged the participants of the discussion to conduct public awareness to accept someone who is ex-prisoner in order to give optimistic in continuing a better life. (TRU).