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Honourable mention2025 · Photo Essay · 15 frames

Chains of Madness

A photo essay by Alain Schroeder

Pasung, the shackling of people with psychosocial disabilities,has been illegal in Indonesia since 1977, yet it remains widespread, especially in rural Java. Beyond poor healthcare access and infrastructure, the main driver is stigma: mental illness is often seen as a spiritual or moral failing. Families turn to traditional healers, faith rituals, or privately run healing centers with no oversight, often staffed by untrained individuals, including former patients. Conditions are sometimes inhumane. Residents are chained in filthy, overcrowded spaces, forced to eat, sleep, and defecate within their surroundings. Some centers administer antipsychotic drugs or shock therapy with little supervision. Widespread infections, malnutrition and severe trauma are common repercussions.

Despite the UN’s recognition of mental health as a fundamental right, cultural beliefs and systemic neglect leave many untreated. Real change demands not only funding, but education, compassion, and community outreach to break cycles of shame and offer dignity to those suffering.

01 / 15Indonesia, Java Island, S. (45) has been here for four years. When I first visited three months ago, he was in a solitary cell and was very violent, throwing things like his towel or plate at visitors and caregivers. Now, he is shackled in a smaller cell with very limited light. He is calmer but still shouts and cries most of the time. It is impossible to interview him or even talk to him. A caretaker tells me he was in the military and suffers from PTSD.
02 / 15Indonesia, Java Island, 
S. (56) is sleeping on the ground, chained to a column. He used to be an entrepreneur but says he was haunted by black magic from head to toe, attacked and bitten by ghosts, and left with pain all over his body. He has many secrets, and when he shares them, people make fun of him. He insists he’s not crazy and that the injections he receives don’t do anything, but the pain is gone, and he believes he’s almost cured. With a sense of pride, he tells me he’s shackled because he has tried to escape three times. The man sleeping next to him is P. (46). He tells me he raped a woman and feels bad about it, but says he apologized, paid a fine of 15 million rupiah, and spent three months in prison. He was transferred to this center two months ago.
03 / 15Indonesia, Java Island, F. (46), has been here for eight months. She was healed and returned home, but she could not adjust and asked the center to take her back.
04 / 15Indonesia, Java Island, I. (60), has been here for 2 months. He is from the next town over and was brought here by the police.
05 / 15Indonesia, Java Island, H. (28) has been here for one year. His brother brought him here. He likes it here and wants to stay.
06 / 15Indonesia, Java Island, S. (32), has been here for seven months. No one knows anything about him because he was brought in in this condition and does not speak.
07 / 15Indonesia, Java Island, E. (45), just arrived two days ago. He says this pile of garbage is his favorite place because he likes to play.  He says he is not well and the center is helping him. When I ask him what he is wearing, he shows me pieces of plastic.
08 / 15Indonesia, Java Island, 
S. (44), has been here for a year. His family brought him here after a 10-day-stay in the hospital. He says he has mental health issues. He likes the center, but he prefers the hospital.
09 / 15Indonesia, Java Island, I (33), has been here for 7 months, he said that the owner of this place came to his house and told him to come here.
10 / 15Indonesia, Java Island, S. around 40 years old, lies with his feet shackled and arms extended like a cross on the hardwood bed in his cell. He was chained by his family in his home, which is unfortunately often the case when families cannot cope and are embarrassed by the psychosocial disabilities of their relatives. He was rescued by social services and brought to this center 15 days ago. He is violent and wants to kill someone. When I was taking his picture, he was boxing in the air most of the time. The manager of the facility thinks he can be cured.
11 / 15Indonesia, Java Island, A. has been here for three months. He tells me he is 4 years old.  His friend says he's 17. When I ask him why he is here, he does not understand the question. He simply replies that he is shackled.
12 / 15Indonesia, Java Island, U. (34) - she says she was born in 1991 - is eating off the floor in her cell. According to the caretaker, she likes to be naked all the time and sleeps on the cold tiles to cool off. She has been here for eight years but when I ask her, she tells me she has been here for 41 years. Every time I talk to her she gives me a different name. She refuses to leave the cell and when she wants to wash, she is hosed down through the bars with cold water.
13 / 15Indonesia, Java Island, No one knows anything about this person, only that she is from Papua and does not speak.
14 / 15Indonesia, Java Island, 
I. 25 years old, is chained to a wooden bed. He is so weak that he cannot stand. He was brought to this rehabilitation center in Central Java by the police after a roundup. Often, people forgotten by their families and by society wander the streets, half-naked and malnourished, until they are picked up by the police or social services and taken to facilities like this one.
15 / 15Indonesia, Java Island, 
N. a young patient at a rehabilitation center, says she is 11 years old. It is impossible to talk to her as she is constantly singing or shouting and does not listen or answer. When she speaks, her language is utterly incomprehensible. She sings and dances gracefully around the cell. At the end of her performance, she makes birdlike wing movements with her arms, then perches herself on the edge of her wooden bed lost in her thoughts.

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