ANKARA - Stating that Turkey is violating international conventions, attorney Senem Doğanoğlu said Turkey is trying to buy time with minor changes in the regulations.

 

Prisoners in Turkey are getting ill under prison conditions like very crowded wards, being sent to hospital too late or never being sent to the hospital, insuficient health care workers, unsanitary cells, malnurishment etc. There are 1.605 ill prisoners in Turkish prisons, 604 of whom are in serious condition. The lives of ill prisoners are lost in between Forensic Medicine Institude reports and neglect of prison administrations. According to the data o human's rights organisations, 682 ill prisoners lost their lives in the last 10 years.

 

International conventions draw attention to the situation of the ill prisoners but Turkey ignores these conventions.

 

MANDELA RULES

 

According to the Basic Principles- Mandela Rules (Rule 24-27), Medical Ethics Principles (art. 1), Recommendation No. 2 (art. 40.3) of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on European Prison Rules (2006) prisoners and convicts in prison, have legally equal access to medical care of the same quality and standard, available throughout the country with the people who are not under arrest.

 

EUROPEAN REGULATIONS ON PRISONS

 

The European Prison Regulations underline the need for prison health services to be organized and harmonized in close relation with the general public health system. According to these regulations, prisoners should have the opportunity to benefit from health services in the country without being subjected to discrimination due to their legal status.

 

DECLARATION OF LISBON

 

According to the Lisbon Declaration published by the World Medical Association in 1981; the patient can choose their doctor freely, be cared for by a physician who can work freely without any external pressure, accept or refuse treatment after being adequately informed, expect their physician to respect to the confidentiality of all medical and personal information about him/her and die with dignity, to ask for or refuse to be comforted by a religious represantative.

 

Lawyer Senem Doğanoğlu evaluated the situation of ill prisoners in Turkey and the violations of international conventions and laws. Doğanoğlu said that Turkey acted in violation of international conventions.

 

'TURKEY IS SUBJECT TO REGULATIONS'

 

Stating that the health system in Turkey has been turned into a tool of oppression in prisons, Doğanoğlu said, “The state has to provide affordable, accessible health services without any discrimination regarding the right to health. Especially in the 1980s, very intensive studies specific to sick prisoners began. As a member of the United Nations and the Council of Europe, Turkey actually has to be subject to the regulations of all these structures. Access to basic human rights in a country is a diplomatic and political issue at the United Nations."

 

IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE STATE

 

Doğanoğlu said that the most important document regarding prisoners is the document dated 1955, which was revised as the Mandela Rules in 2015. There are rules regulating all rights of curative health services. This is the most recent and binding minimum standards for the countries of the world and dates back to 1995. In the early 80s, more specific regulations were made. The European Prison Regulations were legislated. The standards of the Council of Europe regarding these regulations were also published. The Council of Europe makes recommendations on how health services should be carried out in prisons. The Council of Europe announces it to its member states and Turkey is one of them.”

 

Doğanoğlu said that the regulations  of the Lisbon Declaration referred to as the constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO) prepared by the World Medical Association set the standards on which the world physicians and countries including Turkey agree.

 

THEIR PRIORITY IS THE SECURITY MEASURES

 

Doğanoğlu said: "The CPT's most recent 2019 guidelines on access to healthcare in prisons were issued. The CPT has visits to places of detention such as prisons, police stations and removal centres. There are also visits that take place when there are too many applications that are out of routine. In the report published in 2019 on prisons, it is stated that from the moment of first admission at the point of access to health services, the person's health issues - whether arrested or convicted - are not recorded in any way. It also underlines the lack of personnel at the point of access to health. The report also underlines that the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Justice are not working in coordination and their priority is the security measures, not the right to health and life."

 

'THERE IS DISCRIMINATION IN PRISONS'  

 

Underlining that according to the international conventions discrimination among prisoners is strongly prohibited, Doğanoğlu said: "There is an obligation to provide a quality healthcare service that can be accessed at any time, regardless of whether convicted or detained pending trial, in terms of all categories such as gender, identity, disability, and ethnicity." Stating that the United Nations has underlined this situation in the applications of other countries, Doğanoğlu said, "The CPT also states that all decisions to be taken in case of release must be of a medical nature. When we look at Turkey specifically, a medical decision process has its own difficulties. When you check all the boxes to release a prisoner, the prosecutor's office has the right to claim that the prisoner might endanger public security. Prisoners who have 98% disability were held in prison by prosecutors who claim that they could be a danger to public security. Even the possibility of a celebration when they come out is seen as a threat. The right to access to health is prevented for a long time on the grounds that it may endanger public safety, and the right to farewell is actually abolished by the state.

 

TURKEY IS BUYING TIME WITH MINOR CHANGES IN REGULATIONS

 

Doğanoğlu stated that Turkey is trying to buy some time by making minor changes in the regulations and said, "The constitution does not provide any precautions too. The regulation about ill prisoners being a danger to public is used as a tool to give a message to the ECtHR that Turkey is abiding by the rules but it puts the lives of the prisoners at risk. Recently, there is a time-saving strategy with the arrangements to be made in the political field within the scope of the Anti-terror law. Any changes in prisoner's health are evaluated to put them back in prison. Minor changes in regulations mean nothing more than buying time."

 

 

MA / Delal Akyüz