The Law and Human Rights Office in Yogyakarta has questioned five officers of the Yogyakarta narcotics prison for allegedly taking undue disciplinary actions against inmates.

“We have found indications that the five officers often took excessive disciplinary actions,” an official of the Yogyakarta Law and Human Rights Office Gusti Ayu Putu Suwardani stated when contacted here on Thursday.

Based on preliminary investigation into the case, Suwardani noted that the officers had taken excessive disciplinary actions against prisoners during the period of disseminating information on prison rules (mapenaling) in the Edelweis Block.

Suwardani highlighted the importance of disseminating information to the prisoners to offer them an understanding of the rules in correctional facilities.

Mapenaling is conducted for new inmates usually for a week to a month.

Suwardani could not furnish further details on the excessive disciplinary actions but said that the office will sanction the five officers if found guilty.

“We have to be objective (in handling the case). This is not a common crime. If it really occurred, it violated human rights,” she noted.

On Monday (Nov 1), some ex-prisoners of the Yogyakarta narcotics prison had appealed to the Yogyakarta representatives of the Indonesian Ombudsman on the alleged torture against them during their jail services.

Vincentius Titih Gita Arupadatu, an ex-prisoner of the Yogyakarta narcotics prison, claimed that he was stepped on and beaten, while some other prisoners were sexually abused.

Source: Antara News