While corruption is know to permeate many Indonesian governmental institutions, the country’s prison system is notorious for stories of breathtaking corruption that has allowed, in the past, for well-heeled inmates to routinely leave prisons for outside trips and even international vacations while staying in luxurious cells equipped with everything from karaoke machines and big screen TVs to private ‘love chambers’ and even maids.
The government has vowed numerous times to clean up the prisons and fire officials that run their correctional facilities like resorts, but, clearly, they need to keep working on the problem as yet another luxury cell was recently ‘discovered’ in East Jakarta’s Cipinang prison.
The head of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), Budi Waseso (who famously pushed for the creation of an island prison for drug dealers surrounded by man-eating crocodiles) said that his investigators came across the well-appointed cell while investigating a money laundering case that led them to the prison
“The discovery came when the BNN investigative team looking into the crime of money laundering conducted a search of a Cipinang Prison cell on May 31, 2017, which was inhabited by convict Haryanto Chandra alias Gombak,” Budi said today at BNN headquarters as quoted by Tribunnews.
Haryanto Chandra was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2014 under Indonesia’s harsh drug trafficking laws. But it seems like his time hasn’t been that hard so far, as BNN found his cell to contain air condition, a WiFi internet connection, a laptop and iPad to utilize the WiFi as well as four mobile phones.
According to Budi, it also included an aquarium and a special menu for ordering food. Oh, and they also found crystal meth.
Investigators were able to recover about Rp 9.6 billion of the money Haryanto was suspected of laundering, but the BNN chief did not mention what, if any, steps were taken to rectify the situation in the prison.
Many Indonesians support the death penalty for drug dealers because they believe that they can simply continue to run their businesses from behind bars while still enjoy the perks of their profits. And for good reason, since it was proven that some, such as infamous drug kingpin Freddy Budiman who was executed last year, were doing just that.
