Burlington's Neil Bantleman moves to maximum security prison
Bantleman has been in custody for 116 days without charge
Canadian teacher Neil Bantleman has been moved from a police detention centre and is en route to an Indonesian prison where he will await charges in connection with a sexual assault investigation.
The Burlington, Ont. native's family denies he has done anything wrong, yet Bantleman was swept up in a sexual assault investigation after several kindergarten children alleged they were assaulted at the Jakarta International School where he taught.
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Bantleman has yet to be formally charged, something his brother, Guy Bantleman, said could take as long as two months.
He has been in custody for 116 days, since July, when Bantleman and Indonesian teaching assistant Ferdinand Tjiong, were taken to police headquarters for questioning.
They have not been freed since.
Bantleman has written to the Canadian government several times, pleading for help. Guy said his brother could be held for another six months before Neil could be in a courtroom to defend any future charges.
Several janitors are in an ongoing trial for the same alleged sexual assaults. Guy told CBC Hamilton by phone that the janitors were held in jail for four months before their trail began, which itself has been going on for the past three months.
At the Polda police detention centre in Jakarta, Bantleman was able to have many visitors four days a week. Guy says that may not be the case when he's moved to the Cipinang Penitentiary.
"It sounds like he can (take visitors) … that's kind of undetermined at this point," Guy said.
"It could be just restricted to (his wife) Tracy."
Guy said Cipinang, a maximum security prisos, holds roughly 2,100 prisoners. Guy said the move "dramatically increases how scary" imprisonment is for his brother.
He's set to arrive at the jail on Friday, after spending Thursday night in the prosecutor's custody, in a clinic-like setting, Guy said.