Jakarta (Antara Babel) - The Government of Indonesia through the Law and Human Rights Ministry has given remissions to 74,468 prisoners across the country on the occasion of the 69th anniversary of Indonesia's Independence Day.
The Law and Human Rights Ministry's Spokesman, Akbar Hadi Prabowo, said in a press statement made available to Antara here on Sunday that 71,919 prisoners had received type I sentence remissions.
At the same time, the other 2,549 prisoners who received the sentence reduction could directly walk free as they had completed their sentence tenure.
"The 2,549 prisoners who receive type II remission are now free as their sentences have been completed," said Akbar.
Most of the remissions were given to convicted criminals in West Java Province, where 11,369 prisoners got the remissions of whom 374 people had been released.
The second largest number of remissions went the Capital City of Jakarta's 6,945 prisoners, of whom 205 inmates could walk free directly.
East Java Province saw the third largest remissions granted to 6,802 prisoners. Some 325 inmates received type II remissions.
"The sentence reduction given given to the inmates ranges from one to six months," said Akbar.
In the 2013 Indonesia's Independence Day, the government had also given remissions to 67,349 convicted criminals with 2,197 of them were directly released.
In 2012, total 58,595 prisoners were given remissions and 2,246 among them were released.
The Government of Indonesia gives the remissions to either adult inmates or children prisoners, particularly those who had received the coaching programs, behaved well and orderly.
The Ministry of Law and Human Rights had tightened tightened the requirements for granting of remissions through amendment of Government Regulation (PP) Number 33/99 to PP Number 28/2006 and then PP 99/2012.
In latest regulation, the ministry added some conditions for granting remission and parole for convicted criminals of drugs, terrorism, corruption, and trans-national crimes.
Remissions to be granted for those cases must pass the correctional observers team and are based on recommendations from the correctional agency.
Based on data on August 15, 2013, the convicted criminals who lived behind bars reached 162,964 people, while the maximum capacity of prisons is only 109,011 people.
The government believes that the remission and parole are effective in putting to an end the prison's over capacity.
