Healthcare services 'nearly halted' in prisons, says report

The Human Rights Association (İHD) İstanbul Branch Prison Commission released its report on human rights violations in prisons in the Marmara Region for October-November-December 2023 today.

Among the identified violations, 182 were detected through the association's press review. Additionally, applications to the association revealed 1414 violations in October (135), November (567), and December (712). The total number of violations in the report reached 1596.

Under the section titled "Violation of the Right to Adequate and Healthy Nutrition and Access to Clean Water, Failure to Meet Personal Care Needs," the following violations were highlighted:

- Insufficient and poor-quality meals (54 violations)
- Stones found in meals (1 violation)
- Insects in meals (14 violations)
- Lack of hot water supply (9 violations)
- Weekend water cuts (14 violations)
- Non-functioning heaters (1 violation)
- Dilution of cleaning materials with water (11 violations)
- Limited variety and excessive pricing in the canteen (17 violations)
- Failure to turn on natural gas (5 violations)
- Inadequate response to prisoners' applications regarding the increase in meal allowances (32 violations)
- Non-fulfillment of petitions for canteen shopping (2 violations)

In the "Evaluation, Results, and Recommendations" section of the report, the following information and findings were presented:

"Throughout the reporting period, attacks on the right to life, issues related to access to health and treatment, torture, ill-treatment and degrading treatment, access to justice, communication restrictions, severe isolation practices, discrimination in execution, burning of prisons, and negative practices related to parole and conditional release have continued to be subjects of prisoners' objections and struggles.

"In addition to the general problems of the healthcare system, prisons faced hindrances and inadequacies, leading to a virtual halt in access to health and treatment opportunities. Unfortunately, prisoners are losing their lives due to treatable illnesses. This report identified six death cases in prisons." (AS/VK)