After a stabbing at Bali’s Kerobokan Prison, family members of the victims are scrutinizing security at the facility.
A stabbing inside prison walls on Wednesday afternoon reportedly resulted in the death of one man and the injury of another prisoner.
A man who refused to give his name and says he’s a brother of Herman Sumanto, the dead victim, told Tribun Bali that the families involved in this case area criticizing the security conditions of prisoners.
“We deplore the security here (Kerobokan),” he told the local newspapers, saying the conditions are unacceptable.
Responding to these concerns, Kerobokan Prison governor Sudjonggo says that just two days before the stabbing incident, the prison was thoroughly examined and officers found no sign of the rusty knife that would be used by the perpetrators on Wednesday.
He added that some hygiene items and heavy objects in the prison could be transformed into weapons. For example, in previous inspections, prison officers found the contraband items of a retractable stanley knife, rope, musical instruments (we’re curious about the details of this one), and a sharpened toothbrush.
“We often conduct inspections. At least four times a month we carry out checks on all prisoners’ rooms,” but they had missed the murder weapon that was used, he told Tribun.
The weapon used in the stabbing was found in trash that was to be disposed and was made from a sharp metal plate and resembled a large pencil, according to Sudjonggo.
When asked about security guards on duty, Sudjonggo explained that there were only 13 prison guards on that shift, at the time of the incident, divided into several locations, so in practical terms, there’s no way they can see every angle. But perhaps the scariest thing he said is that the capacity of the prison is 300 people, yet there are actually about 900 people locked up in Kerobokan.
An urgent need of the facility is to separate drug prisoners from those incarcerated for corruption and other crimes, Sudjonggo said.
And you would think they would want to keep perpetrators of violent crimes separate from everybody else as well.
Photo: AFP
