Drugs: The Inside Story

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

CLOSE to 50 percent of prison inmates in Indonesia are serving sentences for their involvement in narcotics and hazardous drugs cases. In Jakarta and Tangerang the numbers probably reach as high as 75 percent. They are dealers, producers and, sadly, even users who may have been caught because they were in possession of one or two joints of marijuana.

The small number of prison wardens, the minimum monitoring equipment and the promise of high profits from the drugs trade, make it easy for this contraband to enter prison walls. In this edition, Tempo presents articles which rely considerably on reports from inside prisons.

. tempo : 178042573452.

THE man came at noon, just about mealtime. There was a long line of people wanting to visit the inmates. In front of an officer, this man offered five packages of rice that he was taking with him. “Please, Sir, these are for my friend,” he said while mentioning the name of a prisoner and also the block he belonged to. Then, the man, wearing only sandals, rushed out.

Inside prisons in Indonesia it is common for a prisoner to have food sent t

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