İSTANBUL - Stating that there is a serious health crisis in prisons following the pandemic, CISST Coordinator Berivan Korkut said it is not likely that the seriosly ill prisoners to recieve treatment in prisons under these conditions.

 

The Civil Society Association in the Penal Execution System (CISST) regularly reports the coronavirus (Kovid-19) complaints that come to them from prisons. There have been complaints about surplus capacity prisoners in prisons, hygiene, nutrition and access to treatment. CİSST Advocacy Coordinator Berivan Korkut emphasized that there is a serious crisis in prisons following the pandemic. 

 

ISOLATION IMPOSED UNDER THE COVER OF PANDEMIC MEASURES

 

Korkut stated that the first of the two most fundamental problems in prisons is the ban on all social activities that have exceeded the precautionary level and reached the level of isolation, and the second important problem is access to health. Stating that the so called measures taken against the Covid-19 virus have led to isolation, Korkut said, "17 months have passed. There have been openings all over the world, the bans have been lifted. However, no steps have been taken regarding prisons. Therefore, we need to emphasize that this is no longer a precaution, but has turned into an isolation that affects the psychology of the prisoners."

 

HYGIENE ISSUE

 

Stating that hygiene is one of the biggest problems in prisons in the face of the pandemic, Korkut said, “In the early days of the pandemic, attention was paid to the issue of pesticides. With exceptions, it can be said that common areas were disinfected. The Ministry of Justice and the General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Centers made an ambiguous statement at the beginning of the pandemic, and said "hygiene supplies will be distributed to prisoners in case of need". Then, we started a hygiene kit campaign by coming together with non-governmental organizations and many institutions working on prisons. We demanded that hygiene products would be distributed equally to all prisoners in sufficient amounts. But no action was taken in this regard. The problem here is; as a prisoner, you won't have a problem in this regard if you have money. But if you have no income it causes a crisis.It should no longer be a reward and should be provided equally.”

 

POVERTY INCREASED

 

Adding that there also is an economic crisis in prisons, Korkut said: "An ordinary prisoner told us that he took his showers with a laundry detergent as well as cleaning his cell because it is all he can afford. The economic crisis in Turkey increased the poverty in prisons."

 

SICK PRISONERS

 

Noting that the sick prisoners were the most affected by this situation in prisons, Korkut added that they could not get any response to their applications made to the Ministry of Justice and General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Centers. Noting that there have been issues with access to health in prisons before the pandemic but it turned into a crisis following the pandemic, Korkut said: "There is now a serious health crisis in prisons. Under these conditions, seriously ill prisoners are not likely to receive treatment in prisons. Forensic Medicine Institutions (ATK) are the institutions we criticize the most. We demanded that the sick prisoners should be examined in hospitals and that should be enough for their release. But no steps were taken in that regard. Looking at the prisoners who were released because they are seriously ill lately, we see that they died in a matter of days following their release. This indicates that these people were not release to get treatment. They were released to die outside of the prison."

 

TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT

 

Korkut stated that the number of applications regarding ill-treatment and torture has increased recently and said: "We witness arbitrary treatments in this process a lot. The searches made in the wards have turned into tools of oppression. The prisoners are made to stand up and form a line during the counts, which is usually considered to be degrading treatement by the prisoners. They are tortured when they refused to stand up of form a line. On the one hand, no activities are allowed due to the pandemic while the guards raid the wards without their masks on. This situation poses serious problems for the health of the prisoners. We'd like to emphasize that this is a form of violence.” 

 

 

  

MA /Ferhat Çelik