On June 24, 2008 I spent the day in Yogyakarta a.k.a. Jogjakarta, on Java, the main Indonesian island. It took a lot of work by a great woman, Zunly Nadia, and after several months of paper work, I was allowed to visit a prison. The prison which I am standing in front of below houses 446 people, 75% of which are there for drug offenses. They were mostly men, but there were some women and one who had a beautiful eight month old baby who was born in the prison.
The conditions were striking compared to the prisons I have visited in the United States, Europe and New Zealand. The floors of the housing units were dirt; water was provided by cement ditches around the dormitories; laundry was done by each person (apparently in the ditches) and hung out to dry on ropes strung outside their rooms; the towels they had to use were very worn and dirty.
The people generally looked frail and thin. I was allowed to take some photos and one below is of the cooking room which consisted mainly of several large pots on a fire stove. There was a wooden wagon full of sour looking yellowed rice.
Finally, I visited a prison that was worse than Hawai‘i state prisons.
Sounds like an intense experience, Lorenn! I look forward to hearing about more of your journies! 🙂
Lorenn, the opportunity to learn from the sights and insights you gathered in travel is greatly appreciated. Mahalo!