Electricity bills in Turkey’s prisons on Parliamentary agenda

* Photo: Anete Lusina / Pexels

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Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Ankara MP Ali Haydar Hakverdi has submitted a Parliamentary question regarding the high electricity prices in Turkey's prisons, which are public institutions.

Held in the Elbistan Prison, bianet columnist and cartoonist Ahmet Bilge wrote to bianet in early March and said that the electricity bills to be paid in prison have almost tripled: "The electricity bill sent to our room - where we stay as four friends - has tripled compared to the previous month. It was around 80 lira before the price increase. This time, the bill is 200 lira."

Afterwards, Civil Society in the Penal System Association (CİSST) Advocacy Coordinator Berivan Korkut spoke to bianet and said  that the families who are in deep poverty "outside" are now unable to meet their imprisoned relatives' needs such as cleaning products, bills and electrical devices: "They cannot even buy cigarettes for prisoners any longer. There is no such thing as luxury consumption in prison, anyway. The electrical devices that they can use are limited: Refrigerator, tea urn, kettle and television".

• While prisoners pay for the electricity that they use for the devices that they buy from the canteen (such as TV, refrigerator and kettle), the costs of lighting are met by the penal institution. 

CHP MP Hakverdi has said, "The prisoners who are obliged to sustain their lives solely on the pocket money sent from their families are in the majority. Apart from the exorbitant price hikes, it is nothing other than financing pro-government distribution companies through prisoners that a prisoner under these circumstances uses electricity with its tariff set as a business concern and his or her electricity is cut when s/he cannot pay it."

Bills have tripled

Ali Haydar Hakverdi has also cited the remarks of Ahmet Bilge, who complained that his electricity bill has tripled:

It is recounted that in a four-person ward, an electricity bill which normally stood around 80 lira a month was 220 lira this month. In another prison, it is alleged that the electricity of the cell where a prisoner is held in solitary confinement has been cut after s/he failed to pay the electricity bill for five days while another prisoner claims that three bills have been sent to him/her in a month.

Addressing his Parliamentary question to Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ, CHP MP Hakverdi has asked, "What is the reason for invoicing the electricity used by a prisoner who has no income and who is deprived of his/her right to work to meet the basic needs at a high tariff rate?" (AS/SD)