Several prison officials in Indonesia were suspended after government watchdogs on a surprise inspection last week discovered that inmates were living lives of luxury in spacious housing units with flat-screen TVs and access to amenities like a gym.
The authorities said they were investigating whether inmates had paid corrections staff in exchange for the V.I.P. accommodations at the prison near Jakarta, the capital.
The discovery sparked outrage in Indonesia, where prisons have long been overcrowded and accusations of low-wage guards taking bribes have been widespread.
“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, in a legislative hearing on Tuesday.
Inspectors made the discovery at Cibinong prison, a medium-security penitentiary where they found inmates living in at least 10 housing units just outside the prison that were designed to lodge staff. Guards at first barred the officials from entering, but once inside, they found, among other things, expensive cars parked in the complex and a golf simulator under construction.
The inspectors also found an unsecured exit near the back of the security complex that allowed people to freely enter or leave through an adjoining forest.
It was not immediately clear which inmates had received the preferential treatment, or for how long.
“Facilities like those at Cibinong prison have never been found anywhere else,” the Ombudsman said in an official statement last week after the surprise visit, adding that an inmate had admitted to living in one of the units in an interview with officials.
Five prison officials, including the warden, were suspended and placed under investigation, Rudi Setiawan, the inspector general of the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections, announced on Saturday. He said his ministry had interviewed dozens of inmates and prison officials about conditions at the prison.
The director general of corrections said at another legislative hearing on Monday that an investigation had found 13 unregistered employee residences in the prison compound.
Prisons in Indonesia are often overflowing, with too few guards, according to analysts who have studied the correctional system. Corrupt staff members provide wealthier inmates with drugs, outings and luxury goods, they said.
Guards have been accused of complicity in some escapes and incompetence in others, including in the case of inmates who in 2017 tunneled their way out of Kerobokan prison, a high-security center on the resort island of Bali.
In 2018, a government agency found that inmates housed at another prison on corruption charges had paid guards for V.I.P. accommodations.
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