It sounds like an idea straight out of Hollywood, but the head of Indonesia’s anti-narcotics agency is proposing a prison island guarded by crocodiles for death-row drug convicts. Budi Waseso, the chief of the national anti-narcotics agency, floated the idea, which the justice ministry will now mull over, according to Agence France-Presse.
Waseso is already researching which breeds of croc might be best suited for the job.
Indonesia’s corrupt prison system is awash with drugs, and jail officials are themselves often arrested for narcotics offenses. Waseso said the reptiles would be better at preventing drug traffickers from escaping prison as they could not be bought off—unlike some human guards. ”You can’t bribe crocodiles,” he told AFP. “You can’t convince them to let inmates escape.”
Indonesia has tough drug laws, and ended a four-year moratorium on executions in 2013. Of the 60 drug offenders due to be executed this year, 14 have already received the ultimate punishment, according to Brigid Delaney, co-founder of the Mercy Campaign. Among them were Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, executed by firing squad in April. That incident prompted Australia to withdraw its ambassador from Indonesia.
Waseo has previously suggested that drug dealers should be forced to consume all of their confiscated merchandise. And he has backed a proposal from the Jakarta city council to force nightclubs in the capital to close at midnight.
Image above by Flickr user Luke Price; licensed under CC-BY-2.0.