CİSST: Along with Covid-19, other outbreaks have also started in prisons

Image: Pixabay

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Prisoners' access to treatment has become more difficult as the confinement conditions have become more severe with the Covid-19 measures, the Civil Society in Penal System Association (CİSST) has stated in its prison report covering June 15-26.

The association has stated that it has received complaints and applications from 86 prisons, including 45 closed prisons.

According to the report, prisoners have stated the following complaints:

• While prisons were being regularly disinfected at the beginning of the outbreak, it has become less frequent recently.
• In some prisons, wards cannot be adequately ventilated due to small windows and in some prisons, windows are fixed to prevent opening.
• In some prisons, ventilation is arbitrarily opened late and closed early. Turning off the ventilation minimizes fresh air and physical distancing.
• In some open prisons, dining halls are not adequately cleaned and are used by too many prisoners.
• In some open prisons, physical distance cannot be maintained in cafeteria queues.
• Prisoners' dialogue with their families has been restricted during the outbreak.
• Communication penalties have not been postponed during the outbreak.
• In some closed prisons, common spaces have been entirely closed.
• Prisoners who stay in the same ward have not been let in open sports areas.
• In some prisons, prisoners who are in quarantine have not been provided with phone communication and access to fresh air.
• Access to books has been problematic in some prisons.
• Clothes sent to prisoners from outside have not been given to them.
• Maltreatment and psychological violence towards prisoners have increased in some prisons. (AS/VK)