Five officials have been suspended after a raid revealed an apartment-style compound with air conditioners, big-screen televisions, and a swimming pool allegedly for VIP inmates at a prison near Indonesia’s Jakarta.
An unannounced raid by Indonesia’s Ombudsman at the Cibinong Class IIA Prison revealed unexpected luxuries for selected inmates, stunning Indonesia and igniting fresh outrage over elite privilege behind bars.
The four-hectare (10-acre) Cibinong prison, a medium-to-high-security facility just outside Jakarta, holds a mix of white-collar criminals and other serious offenders.
The Ombudsman team, which arrived at the facility along with journalists, noticed an area surrounded by a wooden fence and enquired about it.
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Guards allegedly initially tried to block the inspectors. Once inside the fenced-off cluster behind the prison chief’s residence, the team found at least 10 residential units equipped with air conditioning, sofas, refrigerators, dining areas, and household appliances.
Investigators also found expensive vehicles, including a Toyota Alphard and a Toyota Fortuner, parked inside the compound, according to local media reports.
They also discovered a swimming pool, a gym, and the ongoing construction of a golf simulator.
The investigators also found a rear exit that allowed people to slip in and out through an adjoining bamboo forest and a garbage dump, bypassing official checkpoints entirely.
“This is the tip of the iceberg that will indeed be greater in the future if it is not corrected systemically,” said Syafrida Rachmawati Rasahan, a member of the Indonesian Ombudsman office, at a legislative hearing on Tuesday.
“We found strong indications that certain prisoners had access to special facilities unavailable to ordinary prisoners,” she said.
“We encountered prisoners inside the residential compound and discovered facilities resembling home stays, apartments and villas rather than prison housing.”
Within days of the expose, five senior officials, including the prison chief were suspended, Rudi Setiawan, the inspector general of the ministry of immigration and correction said.
She added that dozens of inmates and staff have been questioned and authorities are examining whether inmates paid bribes.
The director general of corrections said an investigation found 13 unregistered employee residences in the prison compound.
Indonesian Ombudsman member Fikri Yasin said it was the second time the team was denied access by the Cibinong IIA Prison after they earlier returned due to lack of paperwork to search the premises.
“While attempting to investigate and check, the team encountered physical incidents, including pushing and shoving, resulting in one Ombudsman team member's leg being trapped,” Mr Fikri said.
“The more they obstructed us, the more we inquired about what was going on. It turned out there were more than 10 houses inside. We interviewed the occupants, and they claimed to be inmates," he said.
The monthly “rental” fees ranged from tens of millions of rupiah to as high as Rp 1 billion a year. The money was allegedly shared among prison staff and higher levels of the bureaucracy, the Indonesian newspaper Republika alleged, citing sources.
“Facilities like those at Cibinong prison have never been found anywhere else,” the Ombudsman said in an official statement last week following the visit.
It said an inmate had even admitted to living in one of the units in an interview with officials.
The case marks the latest embarrassment for the corrections system, where issues of crowding, corruption, and use of drugs have continued to pose a problem for authorities.
The scandal has revived memories of an earlier 2010 case in which wealthy inmates at another Indonesian prison enjoyed air-conditioned suites, private bathrooms, karaoke rooms and even personal staff. A video showed lavish living quarters for a businesswoman who was sentenced to five years in prison for bribing a prosecutor.
In a 2018 case, a government agency found that inmates at another prison jailed on corruption charges had paid guards for VIP accommodations.
The Ombudsman of the Republic of Indonesia is an independent state institution that supervises the administration of public services.
