‘Prison wardens don’t observe pandemic rules’

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Civil Society in the Penal System Association has prepared a report based on the complaints of prisoners in the first 15 days of the new year.

The report has noted that "the failure of prison wardens to take necessary hygiene measures while searching the wards in some prisons concerns chronically ill prisoners and prisoners in risk groups."

Right to access healthcare

Some highlights from the report are as follows: 

"While prisons were regularly disinfected at certain intervals at the onset of the pandemic, this frequency has recently decreased and there are some prison wards that have not been disinfected for six months.

"Some wards in prisons have started to be used as quarantine wards during the pandemic, which has caused other wards to get crowded and prevented the circulation of fresh air in wards due to the crowd.

"In some prisons, ventilation shutters were arbitrarily opened late and closed early, which minimizes prisoners' opportunity to get fresh air.

"Heating is not sufficient in some prisons.

"In some prisons, prison wardens do body search on prisons without paying attention to social distance rules, they search the wards by using the same gloves in touching the beds, personal belongings and garbage and prisoners are not given masks during these searches.

"In some prisons, the failure of some prison wardens to take the necessary hygiene measures while searching the wards concerns the prisoners in the risk groups and prisons with chronic diseases.

"In some prisons, prison wardens do not observe social distance and do not wear masks while counting prisoners.

"In some open prisons, prison personnel other than prison wardens do not observe the measures, which puts prisoners' health at risk.

Prisoners' hygiene

"While some prison administrations distribute soap, bleach and disinfectants to wards for free, it is not the case in some other prisons.

"The cleaning and hygiene products distributed for free are limited and fall short of meeting the needs of prisoners.

"While prisoners making a phone call are given masks in some prisons, they are not given masks while they are making a phone call or when they leave the ward in some others even though they request it. It is also reported that penal institution personnel use masks as a means of threat in some prisons and prisoners have difficulty accessing them for this reason.

"In several prisons, there are no cleaning and hygiene products in toilets.

"Bathrooms are dirty; the use and hours of bathrooms are limited in crowded prison wards.

"The number of toilets and bathrooms is limited.

"Water is dirty and unusable in some prisons; water is cut very frequently; hot water is provided in a limited amount and at certain times.

"There are quotas on water usage in some prisons, prisoners cannot maintain their personal hygiene as well as that of the wards as a result.

"There are problems with maintaining personal hygiene."

Concluding its report, the CİSST Association has also shared information about the condition of some ill prisoners in prisons across Turkey. (EMK/SD)

* Click here to read the full report (in Turkish)