Banished from the mainland, prisoners on Indonesia‘s notorious Nusakambangan Island await news of their fate.
The prison complex is home to a number of prisons of varying levels of security. The least volatile can expect to spend their days working in the fields and carving gems.
But for those targeted by Indonesia’s strict drug laws, inmates are kept in pained isolation as they await the death penalty.
The island, dubbed ‘Indonesia’s Alcatraz’, is known for its harsh conditions, with prisoners given minimal contact with the outside world, including legal aid.
Past allegations of torture and mistreatment continue to blight the reputation of the jail regardless of opposition from rights groups.
And for those facing capital punishment lingers the knowledge that they will be given just 72 hours’ notice before being chained and blindfolded, led through the jungle to a clearing where they can be shot for their crimes.
As Balinese police announced that a British man charged with importing and trafficking MDMA faces the death penalty if found guilty, MailOnline looks at the horrors of Bali’s ‘execution island’.
A view of Sodong port in Nusa kambangan island, the main entrance gate to Nusa Kambangan – known as ‘Indonesian Alcatraz’
Thomas Parker is accused of accused of importing and trafficking more than a kilogram of MDMA into Bali
Nusakambangan Island has made itself home to more than 1,500 inmates split between a handful of facilities for prisoners of different criminal backgrounds.
A symbol of Indonesia’s war on drugs, the compound has strict, no-nonsense areas designated for ‘narcotic’ prisoners.
Indonesia’s approach has drawn parallels to the efforts of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, whose death squads and public approval of vigilante justice horrified most of the international community.
Former Indonesian President Joko Widodo ordered police to shoot suspected drug dealers, urging firmness against those trying to bring narcotics into the majority Muslim country.
Incumbent president Prabowo Subianto, an ex-army general strongman type, has made more effort to repatriate foreign convicts facing drugs charges in an effort to restore his international standing – but has stopped short of closing his death prison.
The so-called Ministry of Law and Human Rights is today responsible for operating the prisons on Nusakambangan Island.
Amnesty International reported in 2012 that prisoner of conscience, Johan Teterissa, who they say was arrested after taking part in a peaceful demonstration in Ambon, was beaten with electric cables upon arrival at Batu Prison on the island.
‘According to credible sources, soon after his arrival at Batu Prison he and the other prisoners transferred from Madiun Prison were reportedly kicked and beaten by prison guards,’ they reported.
‘The guards whipped Johan Teterissa’s back with electric cables causing him to bleed. He has not received any medical treatment following the beating.’
Seven years later, in 2019, video went viral in Indonesia of shackled prisoners being dragged across gravel by prison guards while on their way to Nusakambangan.
The men appeared with red marks on their bare backs. They were suspected of running a drug ring from within Bali prisons, per The Age.
Prisoners convicted of drug offences are moved to Nusakambangan Island in January 2022
Prisoners are usually executed by firing squad. Pictured: Indonesian police at Nusakambangan prison as Indonesia prepared for drug executions in July, 2016
Prison-insider reports that the cells at the ‘Lapas Narkotika’ – for those held on drugs charges – endure some of the most grisly conditions.
The food is ‘not sufficiently nutritious’, and one foreign prisoner sentenced to death ‘complained that the food…was so bad that they had lost 20kg in three months and had suffered from food poisoning’.
‘Unlike in other prisons where there is decent lighting, the cells in Lapas Narkotika have small windows that do not provide much light,’ the report adds.
‘Prisoners sentenced to death confirm that in most cases the cells have a bed mattress, although not of good quality,’ the assessment continues.
‘Some prisoners in Lapas Narkotika reported that they were not given a blanket. Prisoners sentenced to death also have a limited number of clothes as there is not enough storage space for them.
Personal items – clothes, photos, letters – are either stolen or burned when a prisoner is moved, they report.
There are no sporting facilities or libraries, no training programmes or educational outlets, reports say.
Indonesian policemen are posted by the river port of Cilacap overlooking Nusakambangan prison island, seen in the background, on March 13, 2015
Articles dating back some 10, 15 years paint a picture of a more relaxed environment where prisoners can enjoy playing football or looking across a sunny compound.
But more recent reports describe inmates condemned to death being crammed into an isolation cell where they can only wait until they are led in chains to a nearby jungle clearing to be executed.
Tied to a post, they are given the agency to decide whether to be shot standing, sitting or kneeling, reports say.
Prisoners are offered blindfolds at this point, and are dressed in a white apron with a red target on their chest.
They are asked if they have any final requests before being lined up in front of a group of marksmen.
The Straights Times, a Singaporean daily English-language newspaper, reports that shooters are chosen from the police Mobile Brigade, ‘specially selected to be in their 20s, and physically and mentally fit for the task’.
They all fire at the same time, aiming straight at the heart of the inmate.
‘They rarely miss as they are given extra training to hone their shooting skills,’ the outlet reports.
‘The convict should die within one minute, if not instantly.’
At the end of last year, the KontraS rights group recorded that there were 530 prisoners on death row in Indonesia, among them 88 foreigners.
Smugglers face severe penalties in the country as around 80 per cent of the prison’s population are locked up on drug charges waiting to be executed.
Confounding matters, foreign nationals are said to be ‘disproportionately affected by the mediocre quality of interpreters’.
‘One interpreter reportedly mistakenly told the police that the accused admitted to committing the crime,’ Prison Insider reports.
Thomas Parker is the most recent British national charged with the importation, trafficking, and possession of drugs.
The 32-year-old was seen for the first time since his January arrest on Thursday, paraded in front of media in an orange jumpsuit in Denpasar.
At a press conference, police revealed the results of their latest efforts to crack down on suspects they believe have been trying to bring drugs into the country.
Authorities claimed that officers had noticed him ‘acting suspiciously’ while collecting a package from a motorcycle taxi driver on January 21, before his arrest.
Police approached Parker, who allegedly discarded the package in panic and fled the scene.
He was traced back to the 7 Seas Villas in North Kuta, where he was arrested.
Police showed the discarded package to Parker, who allegedly admitted it was the package he had received earlier.
Thomas Parker was already being monitored by police when he flew into Indonesia from Thailand
The entrance gate to Nusakambangan prison (pictured in 2016)
They claimed they had found a light-brown powder inside later identified as 1.055kg of MDMA, the main component in ecstasy.
The narcotics agency chief said that Parker was a member of an international drug dealer organisation based in Hungary.
If found guilty of the alleged offences, Parker could be sentenced to death under Indonesian law, as his charges comprise of multiple drug offences.
Parker was remanded in custody and will be kept behind bars during the investigation.
An FCDO Spokesperson told MailOnline today: ‘We are supporting a British man detained in Bali and are in contact with the local authorities.’
