Prisoners at Çorum open prison forced to work but not allowed to study

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Burak Beril, a convict, has been enrolled at the Occupational Health and Safety Program at Hitit University's School of Technical Sciences.

In order to be able to attend his classes, he requested to be transferred from the İskilip Open Prison to the Çorum Open Prison in the Central Anatolian province of Çorum. His request was acepted.

However, Bekil told bianet that the prison administration does not allow him and two other prisoners to attend their classes.

A prison official refused to provide further information to bianet, saying that the necessary information was notified to the relevant person.

Cleaning thinner with bare hands

The prison administration's reason for disallowing the prisoners to study was that they had switched from a closed prison to the open prison as per a pandemic permission, therefore they should be subject to closed prison rules.

In April 2020, the government permitted about 90,000 prisoners to move to open prisons in a bid to reduce the population in closed prisons during the coronavirus pandemic.

However, Bekil said, they are subject to the mandatory labor regime like other prisoners in open prisons. They also benefit from the rights given to prisoners in open prisons, such as four visitations in a month and telephone rights, he said.

Bekil, who has been in prison for 12 years for looting, said, "They make me work like other prisoners in the open prison. Can a person who doesn't know about wall painting at all paint a wall? I did. They made prisoners who didn't know the job paint walls without any safety measures.

"They made me clean thinner with bare hands, there are still burns all over my hands. We are in the open prison by adhering to the condition of working. If we fulfill this requirement, we also should benefit from open prison rights. We are open prison convicts in mandatory labor, and closed prison convicts when we want to go to school."

He had filed a complaint because they were forced to clean the lodgings, even though it was forbidden.

Appeal to the court

The Judgeship of Execution rejected the application Bekil filed in order to be able to go to school. He then filed an appeal with the Heavy Penal Court. His appeal is currently under consideration.

He also applied to the Human Rights Association (İHD), which sent letters to the relevant authorities about the issue.

Bekil said he had talked to the open prison administrations in the cities of Konya, Kastamonu, and Kocaeli, and learned that convicts there are allowed to go to school.

He had also written petitions to the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, the Human Rights and Equality Institution of Türkiye, and the Ombudsman Institution, but the prison administration refused to send these petitions, he added.

According to article 76/1 of the Law on Execution of Penalties and Security Measures, prisoners in open prisons are allowed to benefit from formal and non-formal education, and prisoners in closed prisoners are allowed to benefit from non-formal education. (AS/VK)