DİYARBAKIR - Stating that the increasing violations in prisons are due to the Imralı isolation,  MED TUHAD-FED member lawyer Yusuf Çakas called for the families of the prisoners to come together.

 

According to the Ministry of Justice data, there are 341 thousand 497 people in 407 prisons, the capacity of which is 289 thousand 974 people under the AKP government, where new prisons have become an election promise. In prisons, which come to the fore with new violations every day, the right to health of seriously ill prisoners, who are prevented from being released, is prevented. Ward raids that continue to be systematic in prisons, denial of access to the right to health, denial of the right to communicate on the grounds of disciplinary punishments are among the main violations experienced by prisoners. Lawyer Yusuf Çakas, from the MED Federation of Families of Prisoners and Legal Solidarity Associations (MED TUHAD-FED), made assessments on the violations of rights in prisons and the applications of prisoners. Çakas stated that the reason for the increasing violations in prisons is the result of the isolation on Imrali Island, and noted that it is not possible to prevent the violations of rights in prisons without removing the isolation.

 

THE POLICY OF 'DESTROYING'

 

Emphasizing that the state of being confined in Turkey is different from other democratic countries, Çakas said: "The main purpose of being held in Turkey and similar countries is to see opponents, politicians, and people outside of themselves as threats and act with a policy of 'destroying'. We have received a lot of applications for the prisoners to be transferred to prisons far from their families on the grounds of 'security'. We see that the deportations are not a security reason, and that the main aim is to separate the arrested people from their families. There are High Security Prisons No. 1 and No. 2 in Diyarbakir. The places where they were exiled are also 'High Security' prisons. In other words, there is no different situation in terms of prison security."

 

'LIFE AREAS ARE HARASSED'

 

Practices such as ward raids and the distribution of prisoners' belongings have increased in many prisons in a way that creates 'provocation', Çakas continued: "The rooms in prisons are living spaces. The prisoners eat, read books, watch movies, dream and meditate. By constantly raiding these rooms, the living spaces of the prisoners are harassed. 7 days a week cannot be a security reason. If you have a security concern, you go duly and search your life without messing up or damaging things. But if you make calls every day, it's not called security reasons, it's called harassment. The prisons produce diseases due to the conditions, added that the prisoners do not benefit from the sun enough, that they do not adequately take the air, that the food is inadequate and of poor quality. The prisoners were not taken to the infirmary for months and they were not transferred to the hospital. Those who were taken to the hospital could not be treated due to the imposition of handcuffs."

 

MA / Mehmet Güleş