Mardin Prison: “Food May Not Be the Cause of ‘Food’ Poisoning”

Women prisoners of Mardin E-Type Closed Prison sent a letter to bianet and told that they were poisoned due to food they ate in the prison and they informed the prison management about this issue however there's still no improvement and they still eat unhealthy foods.

"The prisoners had food poisoning on April 22^nd and an investigation opened about this issue" says Lawyer Hüseyin Cangil. "We'll make a denunciation as The Human Rights Association (İHD) Mardin Branch about this food poisoning case" says Cangil.

Mardin Bar told that they would also make a denunciation.

"Around 109 judicial and political prisoners had food poisoning due to the potatoes given in the prison on April 22^nd " explained The Human Rights Association (İHD) Mardin Branch.

"There are worms in our food"

" We were poisoned after we had dinner on April 22^nd. 24 women took immediate treatment and 10 women were taken to hospital, as they got worse. They said 'there's not enough space' and so, two women could not taken to hospital immediately; they waited at the ward unconsciously for 2 hours and then they were hospitalized. We still had nausea, cramps, fatigue, and diarrhea after the treatments. We eat potatoes and rice every day and there are always plastic bags, hair, nails, and worms in the food. "

"No food improvement"

The women prisoners informed the head of the guardians and the warden about these, however there were no changes.

"We asked for fatless, light meals for 3 days after we had food poisoning.  The next day, we didn't eat the food as they didn't care about our requests and gave us the usual food. The manager of the kitchen told us that the food poisoning was not due to the foods."

"The garbage is cleaned rarely, we have water 3 times a day and just for half an hour. The prison has over capacity prisoners. We were already living under unhealthy conditions and moreover, we're poisoned"

"Clean foods cannot be provided"

The Human Rights Association (İHD) Mardin Branch also says that there are over capacity prisoners at Mardin and Midyat Prisons. There are prisoner complaints like "It's impossible to provide clean foods at Mardin Prison. The materials used are not clean." The Human Rights Association (İHD) Mardin Branch also added that in these prisons food-poisoning cases occurred in every two months.

Bianet called the warden of Mardin E-type Closed Prison, however, he said he wouldn't make any statement regarding this issue. (AS)