Indonesia’s plans to enlist crocodiles to guard an island prison

PLANS are underway to build a prison island infested with crocodiles to ensure death row drug convicts can’t escape.

Saltwater crocodile teeth. *Fangs, scales, alligator, saltie, salty*

INDONESIA’S anti-drugs agency has revealed plans to build a prison island guarded by the world’s most “ferocious crocodiles” to ensure death row drug convicts can’t escape.

The wacky proposal is the pet project of anti-drugs agency chief Budi Waseso, who plans to visit various parts of the archipelago in his search for fierce reptiles to guard the jail.

“We will place as many crocodiles as we can there. I will search for the most ferocious type of crocodile,” he was quoted as saying by local news website Tempo.

Waseso said that crocodiles would be better at preventing drug traffickers from escaping prison as they could not be bribed — unlike human guards.

But he is banking on the convicts lacking Roger Moore’s crocodile-running skills showcased in Bond movie Live and Let Die when he escapes from an island using the reptiles as stepping stones.

“You can’t bribe crocodiles. You can’t convince them to let inmates escape.”

The plan is still in the early stages, and neither the location or potential opening date of the jail have been decided.

Indonesia already has some of the toughest anti-narcotics laws in the world, including death by firing squad for traffickers, and sparked international uproar in April when it put to death seven foreign drug convicts.

But President Joko Widodo has insisted drug dealers must face death as the country is fighting a “national emergency” due to rising narcotics use.

Despite the harsh laws, Indonesia’s corrupt prison system is awash with drugs, and inmates and jail officials are regularly arrested for narcotics offences.

Anti-drugs agency spokesman Slamet Pribadi confirmed authorities were mulling the plan to build “a special prison for death row convicts”.

He said only traffickers would be kept in the jail, to stop them from mixing with other prisoners and potentially recruiting them to drug gangs.

The agency is currently in discussions with the justice ministry about the plan, he said.

Corruption, bribery and drug trafficking in Indonesia’s prisons has long been documented.

Australian tourist Paul Conibeer revealed his experiences in one of Indonesia’s most notorious jails, Kerobokan, after he was incarcerated over an unpaid bill dispute alongside murderers, drug mules and rapists.

Paul Conibeer who was in Bali’s notorious Kerobokan prison

Mr Conibeer said his wallet and phone had been stolen the day before he was due to check out of his hotel and things “got heated” when he couldn’t pay the bill.

Turning to the Kuta police for help, he instead ended up being arrested and later said his failure to “pay off” the right people in the Kuta Police system saw him jailed for almost 12 months

“I was shocked; I didn’t understand (because) I figured the police would be able to help,” he said.

Living with 52 men in a 33-man cell for 300 days took a heavy toll on Mr Conibeer.

In his recent memoir, I Survived Kerobokan Prison, Conibeer told his harrowing story of negotiating life among a wide variety of prisoners and playing witness to drug use and overdoses, violence and appalling conditions.

During his sentence, he said he witnessed murders and held a man in his arms as he died of a drug overdose.

Mr Conibeer said Kerobokan prison had an open section which was in the process of being rebuilt after a recent riot.

“(It was) 100m from freedom with no guards — how crazy,” he said.

“Everyone is too scared to break out.”

Members of the Bali Nine became Mr Conibeer’s friends and they spent every day together. When Mr Conibeer had served his sentence and was released, he said he started crying.

“I cried — (the Bali Nine) were all there and I left my mates behind,” he said.

He was released the day before his birthday on June 24, 2013.