Cipinang Penitentiary Institution ( id, Lembaga Pemasyarakatan Cipinang) is a top-security prison in
Jakarta
Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...
,
Indonesia. It is exactly located in Cipinang Muara,
Jatinegara,
East Jakarta.
History
The prison was built by the
Dutch colonial administration, during the
Indonesian National Revival. It held Indonesian nationalist leaders such as
Mohammed Hatta. Following Indonesian independence, novelist
Pramoedya A. Toer
Pramoedya Ananta Toer ( EYD: Pramudya Ananta Tur) (6 February 1925 – 30 April 2006) was an Indonesian author of novels, short stories, essays, polemics and histories of his homeland and its people. His works span the colonial period under Dutc ...
was arrested in 1961 and held without trial for nearly a year in Cipinang for criticizing the
Sukarno administration
Guided Democracy () was the political system in place in Indonesia from 1959 until the New Order began in 1966. It was the brainchild of President Sukarno, and was an attempt to bring about political stability. Sukarno believed that the parli ...
's anti-Chinese policies.
Human rights groups such as
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
and
Human Rights Watch alleged that the
Suharto administration
The New Order ( id, Orde Baru, abbreviated ''Orba'') is the term coined by the second Indonesian President Suharto to characterise his administration as he came to power in 1966 until his resignation in 1998. Suharto used this term to contra ...
used Cipinang and other prisons to silence opponents from the Sukarno administration and
Irian Jaya.
In their annual report for 2005, AI also spoke of routine
torture and ill-treatment. The organization said of Cipinang and other prisons:
According to a survey conducted by a local non-governmental organization, over 81 per cent of prisoners arrested between January 2003 and April 2005 in Salemba detention centre, Cipinang prison and Pondok Bambu Pondok Bambu is a village (''kelurahan'') of Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, Indonesia. Before the establishment of the Subdistrict Duren Sawit, the village is under the administration of the Subdistrict Jatinegara
Jatinegara (originally known as Mee ...
prison, all in Jakarta, were tortured or ill-treated. About 64 per cent were tortured or ill-treated during interrogation, 43 per cent during arrest and 25 per cent during detention.
During the Indonesian occupation of
East Timor, East Timorese independence activists, such as
Xanana Gusmão (later
President of East Timor
The president of the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste ( pt, Presidente da República Democrática de Timor-Leste; tet, Prezidente Republika Demokratika Timor-Leste) is the head of state of the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste. The executiv ...
), were housed in the jail. Others imprisoned at Cipinang for political activity include political dissidents Asep Suryaman,
Sri Bintang Pamungkas, and labor leader
Muchtar Pakpahan. After
Suharto
Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...
's resignation in 1998, new President
Jusuf Habibie released Pamungkas, Pakpahan, and Gusmão.
Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader of
Islamist terrorist group,
Jemaah Islamiyah, was imprisoned in Cipinang. He was released after serving 26 months for conspiracy relating to the
2002 Bali bombing
The 2002 Bali bombings occurred on 12 October 2002 in the tourist district of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali. The attack killed 202 people (including 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians, 23 Britons, and people of more than 20 other nationalit ...
.
Today
The jail holds 4,000 prisoners in a facility designed to hold 1,500.
Well-connected prisoners are often able to obtain superior accommodation. The former governor of Jakarta,
Ahok, was imprisoned here, but was released in January 2019 after receiving a two-month remission.
See also
*
Political prisoner
References
External links
*
"The view from Cipinang prison" ''Green Left Weekly''
{{Authority control
Buildings and structures in Jakarta
Prisons in Indonesia
Politics of Indonesia