In May 2011, Indonesian JusticeMaker 2010 Ajeng Larasati met participants of the recent training session she directed at Cipinang Detention Center in Jakarta. The training sessions were conducted in March 2011 for the tamping (convicted prisoners who hold clerical jobs in the detention center) on the legal rights present in Indonesia’s Criminal Procedure Code.  The tamping were chosen as the target training audience given their relatively elevated status among the detainees, which they could use as a platform for passing on the information they had learned to other prisoners.

The evaluations began with a short questionnaire, written in Bahasa Indonesia; the tamping were asked to rate various aspects of the training on a scale between 1 (very good) and 3 (poor).  The survey included the following questions:

• How well did you understand the subject material covered?
• How effectively was the training conducted?
• Were the facilities (training materials, location, food provided) sufficient?
• How well do you think you would be able to convey what you learned in the training session to other people?

Ajeng also conducted short individual interviews with the tamping, where she made inquiries as to which modules had been most useful, whether they felt well-equipped to discuss legal rights with other inmates, and whether there was any feedback that they might offer.

In general, the response was quite positive. The tamping reported that they had a better understanding of their own legal rights, and stated that they felt able to effectively share this knowledge with pre-trial detainees in the prison. Significantly, all the tamping acknowledged that if they were asked questions by fellow prisoners to which they didn’t know the answer, they would feel comfortable directing those inquiries to prison staff or legal aid lawyers from Ajeng’s NGO. Additionally, Ajeng’s training helped the tamping take more active leadership roles in the prison community, which gives them the confidence to advise other detainees on practical matters.

By providing the tamping with a basic understanding of their legal rights, Ajeng is helping to facilitate the creation of an empowered community amongst the inmates of Cipinang Detention Center.

Supriyatno, known as ‘Yatno’ to his friends, listens carefully as Indonesian JusticeMaker Ajeng Larasati speaks about her country’s Criminal Procedure Code. Occasionally, he raises his hand and asks a question on behalf of a fellow detainee in Jakarta’s Cipinang Detention Center; he painstakingly notes down the answer, presumably in order to communicate it to his friend later.

Yatno is one of five tamping—convicted inmates who hold clerical positions in the Detention Center—whom Ajeng is teaching about the legal rights that are codified by Indonesia’s Criminal Procedure Code. Once the week-long training is done, Yatno and his colleagues will be able to instruct pre-trial detainees about their rights.

Yatno’s story is typical of many of Cipinang Detention Center’s residents. A labourer in North Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok Harbour, his job in 2010 had involved carrying goods back and forth between incoming ships and the warehouse. The life was not easy, but at least he was free—until, one afternoon, he received a letter from the nearest police station. He was instructed to report at the station on a specific day. However, when he arrived, he was charged with embezzlement and arrested, on the grounds that he—and many of his friends—had moved stolen goods between the harbour’s warehouses and the ships that docked there.

Yatno and his colleagues protested their innocence, claiming that none of them were aware of the contraband nature of these goods, and that they were merely following their supervisor’s instruction. Pooling their meager financial resources, the group contrived to hire lawyers to help them present their case; for a short time, all seemed to be going well. However, when he was unable to find additional money for lawyers’ fees, Yatno was abandoned by his defense attorney midway through the trial. Without appropriate legal assistance, Yatno was convicted of the charges in November 2010 and given an 18-month sentence.

The ultimate goal of Ajeng’s sessions is to put the tamping in a position where they will be able to provide pre-trial detainees with legal assistance without her supervision. To this end, Yatno arrived to the training sessions armed with specific questions that he could not answer from his own experience. His position as a tamping, as well as Ajeng’s dedication to legal rights education, will assist Yatno in ensuring that other detainees do not have to end up in his position due to a lack of sound legal advice.

Indonesian JusticeMaker 2010 Ajeng Larasati recently completed a five-day training session in Cipinang Detention Center, Jakarta. Between 8 – 13 March 2011, she educated five tamping (convicted prisoners who hold jobs in the prison offices) on the legal rights guaranteed to detainees under the Indonesian Criminal Procedure Code.   Ajeng’s hope is that these tamping will in turn act as teachers to pre-trial detainees in Indonesian jails, helping to make her trainings exponentially more effective.

Ajeng and her organization, LBH Masyarakat (Community Legal Aid Institute), believe that because the tamping have been in the same position as those detainees awaiting trial, they will have a more nuanced understanding of the problems and predicaments that these prisoners face—this would allow the tamping to deliver the material more efficiently. Additionally, Ajeng believes that the detainees will respond more receptively to advice given by the tamping.

The training sessions were initially conducted in three two-hour sessions on March 8, 9 and 10, in the office of Mr. Zulfikri, the head of the Legal Aid and Detainees Assistance Section of the Detention Center. During these sessions, Ajeng explained the appropriate parts of the Criminal Procedure Code to the tamping, and shared tips about effective non-verbal communication. The tamping were very proactive, cementing their understanding of the topics presented by asking how these applied to their own cases and the cases of their friends in the Center.

An additional training took place on 17 March 2011, when Ajeng conducted a simulated legal counselling session. During this sessions, the tamping were confronted with the kinds of problems that the detainees might be likely to bring them, and were required to give advice based on what they had learned during the previous training sessions—with feedback and critique from Ajeng. These kinds of practical sessions allow participants to practice their newfound skills, and because they are able to learn by experience, are much more effective than purely theoretical lectures and discussions.

The following day, the tamping began giving legal advice to some pre-trial detainees, under Ajeng’s supervision. All participants reported that the session went very well, and Ajeng received good feedback from both the tamping and the detainees whom they were assisting.

Ajeng is currently in the process of planning a second training session, to be held in June 2011. She hopes to find a more spacious facility within Cipinang Detention Center so that she can train a larger number of tamping, and hopes that during future sessions she will be able to go into more detail regarding aspects of the Indonesian Criminal Procedure Code which pertain to torture and ill-treatment.