İZMİR - While it was stated that the Administration and Monitoring Board formed in the prisons prevented the release of at least 138 prisoners in 2 years and 3 months on the grounds that they were not doing well, İHD İzmir Branch President Zafer İncin said that the prisoners were punished for the second time due to preventing of their release.

 

As a result of the repressive policies implemented in Turkish prisons, prisoners are exposed to many different rights violations. One of the violations practiced in recent years is that the release of prisoners is prevented despite serving their sentences. The "Regulation on the Management of Penal Institutions and the Execution of Penalties and Security Measures" brought to the parliament by the AKP-MHP was published in the Official Gazette on March 31, 2020 and entered into force. The Administration and Observation Board, established within the scope of the regulation, evaluates whether the prisoners who have completed their executions are in good behavior or not, and postpones their releases. Prisoners are evaluated by the board every 6 or 3 months. Prisoners who have completed their execution cannot enjoy their right to conditional release on the grounds that they are not considered to be in good behavior with the arbitrary reports of the monitoring board. Among the prisoners whose release was prevented, there are especially seriously ill political prisoners who have completed 30 years.

 

While the Administrative Monitoring Boards evaluate every move of the prisoners in prison, they prevent the release of the prisoners with abstract and arbitrary excuses. Among these evaluations, many issues such as "whether they regret it, the electricity and water bills they use in the prison, the number of books they read, family meetings" are the subject of evaluation.

 

THE RELEASE OF 138 PRISONERS HAVE BEEN PREVENTED

 

According to the data of the Federation of Legal and Solidarity Associations of Med Detainees and Convict Families (MED TUHAD-FED), the release of at least 138 prisoners from January 2021, when the regulation began to be implemented, to April 1, 2023, was prevented for arbitrary reasons. Recently, Bolu Type F and Sincan Women's Closed Prison are at the top of the prisons with the highest number of executions.

 

'THE PREVENTING OF RELEASE BECOME SYSTEMATIZED'

 

Zafer İncin, Head of İHD İzmir Branch, evaluated the preventing of release systematized by the decisions of the Administration and Observation Board in prisons. Pointing out that  the prevention of release is a special practice, İncin said: "This is especially aimed at preventing the release of 30-year-old prisoners. The prisoners are trying to be intimidated ideologically and politically. The prison administration, prosecutor, officer and even psychologists are under the auspices of the Administrative Observation Board and do not go beyond the discourse of that place. This process, which is based on the discretionary power to come out of it by having a formal meeting with the prisoner, is in compliance with the law. It works in an inconsistent way.”