CCTVs at Gayus’ jail: Harder to waltz in, out?

Dicky Christanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 11/18/2010 9:53 AM | Headlines

Police said they had upgraded security measures at their Kelapa Dua detention center in Depok, West Java,
from where high-profile graft suspect Gayus Tambunan freely ventured out several times after bribing
prison officials.

“We have installed CCTV cameras and fingerprint identification devices at the center,” National Police
chief detective Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi said Wednesday.

It wasn’t quite clear, however, if the measures would prevent unauthorized parties getting both in and out.

Ito asserted that the improved security arrangement would plug apparent loopholes in monitoring the
detention center.

“We guarantee that unauthorized people will not be able to enter the premises now,” Ito was quoted as
saying by news portal tempointeraktif.com.

Security at detention centers hit the headlines after revelations that nine police officers, in return for money,
allowed the detained Gayus to leave his cell at least once a week.

Gayus was spotted by journalists at an international tennis tournament in Nusa Dua, Bali.

He confirmed that he had gone to Bali with his wife and children on vacation.

Gayus also told police that he traveled under a fake name while his family used their real names.

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) legislator Eva Kusuma Sundari said Ito’s statement again
confirmed that the police approached the issue from the wrong angle.

She said the blame lay with the personnel, not a lack of monitoring equipment.

Therefore, she continued, implementing stricter regulations with severe consequences was much more
important than installing new equipment.

“At best, what they’re proposing will only be a temporary solution,” she told The Jakarta Post.

The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute called for the Kelapa Dua center to be sealed off.

“The detention center was built to treat high-profile suspects differently so such privileges open the door to
practices of bribery,” it said in a statement sent to the Post.

The institute also called for public access to and monitoring of the detention center to reduce incidents of
bribery and discriminatory treatment of inmates.

Apart from Gayus, some inmates in the center also reportedly enjoy the freedom of being able to leave their
cells.

Comr. Iwan Siswanto, the former warden, admitted he had allowed other high-profile inmates,
including graft suspect Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji and convicted murder Sr. Comr. Wiliardi Wizar, to leave
their cells.
Attending his trial at the South Jakarta District Court on Monday, Gayus confirmed Iwan’s statement that
some other inmates in the centers were also free to leave their cells.

“To my knowledge, five other inmates had the liberty of being able to leave their cells,” he said, but
stopped short of naming the men.

Critics have expressed concern about Gayus’ safety as his statements may implicate top officials, but the
police said they would ensure Gayus’s safety in his cell.

“There is no threat to his safety, so far,” Ito said.

In response to a barrage of graft scandals, the Justice and Human Rights Ministry said it planned to
confiscate the assets of graft convicts to prevent them from bribing law enforcement officers.

“It is time for a new regulation that would impoverish all graft suspects to serve as a deterrent,” Justice and
Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar was quoted as saying Wednesday by news portal kompas.com in
response to a call by Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud MD for law enforcement officials to
confiscate graft suspects’ assets.

Police said Gayus left his cell 68 times since July after paying Rp 368 million (US$41,110) to bribe nine
police officers.