Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

March 19, 2025

Indonesia: Prabowo’s prison island plan for corrupt officials raises eyebrows

News

Asia Health Material conditions Facilities Protest Overcrowding Alternatives Indonesia

President Prabowo Subianto’s pledge to construct a remote island prison for corrupt officials has been met with scepticism from experts, who argued that deeper structural reforms of the prison system were needed to address chronic overcrowding and underfunding.

March 7, 2025

Indonesia: inside Bali's execution island, how imprisoned people are shipped to 'Indonesia's Alcatraz'

News

Asia Access to legal rights Drugs Material conditions Death penalty Torture Activities Social ties Indonesia

Banished from the mainland, imprisoned people in Indonesia’s notorious Nusakambangan Island await news of their fate. The prison complex is home to a number of prisons of varying levels of security. The least volatile can expect to spend their days working in the fields and carving gems.

October 10, 2024

Indonesia: the collateral damage of security rhetoric

Interview

Asia Drugs Death penalty Indonesia

In 2015, the President of Indonesia declared a war on drugs. The death penalty became one of the major tools of this campaign. Albert Wirya works for LBH Masyarakat. We asked him about the use of the death penalty and the efforts being made to abolish it. Interview.

January 18, 2022

Indonesia: detention conditions of people sentenced to death

Analysis

Asia Access to legal rights Material conditions Death penalty Torture Social ties Indonesia

No execution has been recorded since 2016. The number of sentences, however, has been on the rise. Since 2014, Indonesia has increased its efforts in the war on drugs after Indonesian President Widodo described it as a “national emergency”.

September 10, 2021

Indonésie : l’enfer du feu dans une prison

News

Asia Drugs Material conditions Facilities Indonesia

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

November 19, 2019

Indonésia: dans la prison de Serge Atlaoui, condamné à mort

News

Asia Drugs Death penalty Violence Indonesia

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

August 21, 2019

Indonesia: Papua prison break, hunt for 250 inmates who escaped torched prison

News

Asia Indonesia

Indonesian authorities are hunting for more than 250 inmates who escaped from a prison in the province of West Papua.

August 20, 2019

Indonesia: des centaines de détenus s'évadent d'une prison lors d'une émeute

News

Asia Protest Indonesia

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French, Spanish

July 11, 2019

Indonesia: prison officials believe inmates are "turning gay" after sleeping next to the same ex

News

Asia Indonesia

If that’s the case, shouldn’t prisons be full of gay people, since overcrowded conditions force inmates to sleep in cramped cells?

May 31, 2019

Indonésia: Mathias Echène détenu à Bali

News

Asia Indonesia

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

October 1, 2018

Indonesia: prison break, convicts on the run after disaster

News

Asia Indonesia

Some 1,200 Indonesian convicts are on the run from three different detention facilities in devastated Sulawesi after the region was rocked by a powerful earthquake and tsunami, a justice ministry official said Monday. One prison in tsunami-struck Palu city - built to hold just 120 people - saw most…

July 23, 2018

Indonesia: search on for two dozen inmates after Indonesia prison break

News

Asia Indonesia

Indonesian authorities are searching for two dozen inmates who escaped from a prison by sawing through the iron bars of a ventilation window, police said Monday (Jul 23).

July 23, 2018

Indonésie : de luxueuses cellules de prison en échange de pots-de-vin

News

Asia Indonesia

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version.

May 9, 2018

Indonesia: a riot at a police detention leaves five officers and one prisoner dead

News

Asia Protest Indonesia

A riot at a police detention center near Indonesia’s capital left five officers and a prisoner dead and another officer held hostage Wednesday.

August 19, 2017

In Indonesia’s dysfunctional prisons, escapes aren’t the half of it

News

Asia Indonesia

The recent escape of four foreign inmates who tunneled their way out of Kerobokan Prison, a high-security facility on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, could have been a scene from a Hollywood movie.

July 11, 2017

Indonesia : Kerobokan prison escapees still on run as Indonesian officials tackle overcrowding concerns

News

Asia Overcrowding Indonesia

A group of politicians in Jakarta has demanded a number of prisoners, including foreigners, be moved from Bali’s infamous Kerobokan prison to address overcrowding as police continue a hunt for two men who escaped in June.

June 27, 2017

Indonesia: prison woes: packed but understaffed

News

Asia Indonesia

A Bali prison break by four inmates last Monday has again shone the spotlight on longstanding issues of overcapacity and understaffing at Indonesia’s correctional facilities. The challenge of securing over 200,000 inmates in fewer than 500 prisons in the country was further highlighted when a warde…

June 24, 2017

Indonesia: international crime syndicate may be behind Bali prison breakout - as two inmates who escaped through a tiny tunnel are captured while Aussie on the run 'parties in Amsterdam'

News

Asia Indonesia

A crime syndicate may have helped prisoners escape from Kerobokan prison Two escapees arrived back in Bali on Saturday after being caught by police Perth man Shaun Davidson and Malaysian national Tee Kok King remain at large

June 21, 2017

Bali escape: prisoners not found in waterlogged tunnel out of Kerobokan, police say

News

Indonesia

Police have confirmed no prisoners have been found in a tunnel that is believed to be have been used by four escapee inmates at the Kerobokan jail. There had been fears that the men, including one Australian, may be stuck inside the muddied hole which had filled with water.

June 20, 2017

Indonésie : quatre étrangers s'évadent d'une prison de Bali au moyen d'un tunnel

News

Asia Indonesia

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version.

June 20, 2017

Indonesia cracks down on terrorism with new laws and joint patrols

News

Asia Justice Indonesia

Jakarta: Indonesians who join terrorist groups overseas will face a maximum 15 years’ jail under new anti-terrorism laws expected to be passed by September. The new laws will enable authorities to crack down on Indonesians who return after fighting with the Islamic State in Syria or the Philippine…

June 15, 2017

Indonesia : behind prison walls [video]

News

Asia Indonesia

For the first time ever a film crew was granted full access to Kerobokan jail, which sits in the centre of Bali’s tourist mecca. Foreign Correspondent meets five prisoners who call the space inside these walls home.

May 23, 2017

Indonésie : condamné à deux ans de prison, l’ancien gouverneur Ahok renonce à faire appel

News

Asia Indonesia

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version.

May 16, 2017

Massive break illustrates Indonesia’s prison dilemma

News

Asia Protest Overcrowding Indonesia

Overcrowding, miserable sanitary conditions, corrupt guards contribute to chaos