Equality in Correctional Services

KOMPAS/SOELASTRI SOEKIRNO

Residents of Class 1 Adult Correctional Institution (Lapas) Tangerang, Banten.

The decision of the Constitutional Court (MK) on Thursday (30/9/2021) must have hurt the feelings of corruptors, drug traffickers, and terrorists.

The verdict has now made them “normal” criminals. Previously, acts of terrorism, corruption, and drug trafficking were classified as special crimes, even extraordinary crimes. They used to be separate from the perpetrators of theft, extortion, embezzlement, and murder, which fall under general crimes.

Anyone can commit a general crime. Meanwhile, special skills are needed to commit special crimes or extraordinary crimes. Only certain people can perpetrate them. Not just anyone has the access or opportunities that enables the perpetration of extraordinary crimes. Corruption, for example, has an element of state losses, so only those people who have access to state finances can be involved in the crime.

Also read:

> Political Parties Going Nowhere

> Kinship (Politics) in Democracy

In its decision to the request of former advocate O.C. Kaligis, the Constitutional Court justices emphasized that correctional institutions had the full authority to grant a sentence remission without any intervention from other institutions, especially if the intervention was contrary to the spirit of providing correctional services to inmates. Every inmate is entitled to the right without exception. An exception can only be made with a judge’s decision (Kompas, 1/10/2021).

The article on granting remissions to prison inmates was found to have multiple interpretations. This article serves as the foundational basis of Government Regulation (PP) No. 99/2012.

Kaligis, who was convicted of corruption for bribing a judge at the Medan State Administrative Court (PTUN) in 2005, challenged Article 14 Paragraph (1) Letter (i) of Law No. 12/1995 on correctional facilities. The article on granting remissions to prison inmates was found to have multiple interpretations. This article serves as the foundational basis of Government Regulation (PP) No. 99/2012. The PP stipulates that remissions can be given to convicts of corruption, terrorism, and drug trafficking if they had the status of justice collaborators, meaning that they had written documentation showing they had assisted law enforcement in their investigations.

KOMPAS/KELVIN HIANUSA

ILLUSTRATION: Constitutional Court Session.

The Constitutional Court rejected Kaligis\' request. However, by emphasizing that every inmate was entitled to the rights mandated in the law, including sentence remissions, the perpetrators of special crimes can be granted a sentence reduction or other rights without having to assist law enforcement officers. The Constitutional Court justices deemed that the court\'s verdict had contained aggravating or mitigating factors for defendants, so there must be no considerations that differentiated the rights among inmates. The government had the authority to regulate the requirements for granting remissions, but any exceptions must be decided by a judge.

The public is concerned that the Constitutional Court\'s decision will "force" the government to grant remissions to perpetrators of corruption, drug trafficking, or terrorism, without additional requirements to avoid the impression that it had violated prisoners’ rights. Justice and the authority to deter perpetrators of extraordinary crimes are now in the hands of judges. The eradication of corruption, terrorism, and drug trafficking in this country is again at a crossroads for the sake of equality in correctional services.

(This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo).