Pubdate: Tue, 10 Oct 2006
Source: Jakarta Post (Indonesia)
Copyright: The Jakarta Post
Contact:  http://www.thejakartapost.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/645

BANTEN RANKS THIRD IN DRUG-RELATED CRIMES

SERANG: Despite its high number of drug-related  convicts, Banten 
does not have special narcotics  prisons, an official said Monday.

As of October, 2,700 people were incarcerated for  drug-related 
crimes this year, said Siswadi, the head  of the narcotics unit at 
the provincial justice and  human rights department.

There are 6,000 people imprisoned in Banten.

Banten ranks third after Jakarta and East Java in terms  of the 
number of drug-related offenses handled by the  department.

In Tangerang Women's Penitentiary in Banten, for  instance, 200 of 
its 350 convicts are doing time for  drugs, he said as quoted by Antara.

Two years ago, the provincial administration planned to  build a 
narcotics prison in Cilegon but the plan was  never realized.

The province has nine penitentiaries, all of which are overcrowded.

Siswadi said Tangerang's penitentiaries were built to  accommodate 
800 prisoners but had 3,000 on average.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine