Inmates use sarongs to escape Indonesian prison

By Hans David Tampubolon in Jakarta/The Jakarta Post | ANN – Tue, Apr 12, 2011 7:00 PM SGT

Jakarta (The Jakarta Post/ANN) - Four prisoners, including two murderers, fashioned sarongs into a rope and used it to escape from Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta, Indonesia, early Monday, according to the police.
The convicts, identified by officials as Anang Saputra, Hermansyah Syahputra alias Jono, Muhamad Iqbal and Wahidin, reportedly broke out by climbing down a watchtower left unattended the prison's guard force.
Iqbal and Wahidin were both convicted of murder, while Anang was serving an eight-year sentence for violating 2002 Children's and Women's Protection Law.
The fourth escapee, Hermansyah, had been detained at Cipinang Penitentiary after he was caught breaking out of a penitentiary in Palembang, where he had been imprisoned for robbery, according to the prison's warden.
Sihabudin, the senior corrections official for the Law and Human Rights Ministry's East Jakarta office said that the convicts made good their escape after climbing down the watchtower early Monday morning.
"The watchtower was without our prison guards. We are kind of understaffed right now," Sihabudin said.
Officials at the prison are currently investigating if some guards aided the inmates in their escape.
Cipinang warden Edi Kurniadi said that five prison guards were being questioned by investigators for alleged prior knowledge of the escape.
Edi said that the inmates were seen together prior to their escape, even though their cells were far apart.
The inmates escaped by fashioning sarongs to make a rope that they used to climb down the watchtower.
East Jakarta Police chief detective Comr. Dody Rahmawan said that the convicts had planned their escaped well, adding that several inmates reported missing sarongs.
Residents living nearby reported seeing a rope made from sarongs lowered from the prison watchtower soon after the news broke about the prison break.
University of Indonesia criminal expert Bambang Widodo Umar said the escape was a sign of poor security at Cipinang Penitentiary, one of the largest correctional facilities in the city.
"There should be a better system in the prison. Inside, the warden should rely on prison guards while on the outside the police can give reinforcement. With this kind of integrated system, quick measures can be taken to catch escaped inmates," Bambang said.
The prison should closely monitor the morale of its guard force, Bambang added.
"If the prison guards remain underpaid and under-motivated, this kind of thing will continue to happen in the future," he said.