While the 2024 Central Government Budget Law Proposal, which was discussed in the Parliamentary Planning and Budget Commission between October 20 and November 24, was accepted by the commission, it will be discussed in the General Assembly on December 11. The Ministry of Justice, which requested 198 billion 703 million 54 thousand lira from the budget, plans to use some of it for new prisons. The ministry, which has a plan to build 12 new prisons for 2024 in its budget proposal, also includes 8 new prisons in its estimated budget plan for 2025.

 

There is a great congestion in prisons as a result of increasing human rights violations during the AKP government and the use of arrests as a method of punishment rather than a precaution. Again, while 26 prisons were built in 2019, 23 in 2020, 32 in 2021 and 19 in 2023, the number of existing prisons increased to 285. Violations in prisons continue to increase day by day. While many bans imposed for "precautionary" purposes during the Covid-19 pandemic have now become routine for prisons, there is no area left unrestricted, from the right to access to health to the freedom of newspapers and books. While ill prisoners could not be treated, many ill prisoners lost their lives in prison. With the Execution Laws and commissions enacted, the release of many prisoners, especially those who have been detained for 30 years, is prevented.

 

We discussed the new prisons, which are on the agenda again with the ministry budget, and the current situation with human rights and legal institutions.

 

'Y' AND 'S' TYPES WILL BE OPENED

 

Human Rights Association (IHD) Izmir Branch Prison Commission member Ahmet Çiçek said: "The development of a country cannot be measured by the number of prisons. The more prisons there are in a country, the more injustice and lawlessness there are. The newly opened prisons consist of High Security Prisons, Y and S type prisons. These are single-person cells and a cell structure where no one is allowed to meet anyone else. This is actually an isolation. These prisons, which were created with an understanding that even violates their own law, are a situation that arises from the arbitrariness in the execution law. As such, this arbitrariness has spread to all prisons. Sometimes disciplinary punishments are given to cover this up and those people are thrown into cells."

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'WE DON'T WANT A NEW PRISON'

 

Stating that the isolation started with İmralı Prison, Çiçek said: "You are building a prison inside the island. The state makes people unable to even meet with each other and their families. Now they do this differently in other prisons. The family lives in Diyarbakır, they exile the arrested person to the farthest provinces. Since they cannot go back and forth, it becomes another practice of isolation. We do not want prisons. In fact, all prisons need to be closed and changes must be made in the Penal Execution system; moreover, instead of opening new prisons, the prisoners should be released according to their location and situation; however, they are considering opening new prisons. This is due to social opposition. It means that there will be more attacks on them and there will be many arrests against them. The 'security' policy is a policy that shows that enemy law will be applied. We want the government to give up this practice immediately. I do not want a prison to be built with the taxes I have paid for years as an employee."

 

'THREATENING THE OPPOSITIONS'

 

Drawing attention that prisons are the places where the most human rights violations occur in the country, Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD) Izmir Branch President Dilancan Ateş said: "There have been dozens of human rights violations, from the violation of the right to communication to the violation of the ban on torture. We see that the newly opened prisons are mostly Y and S type. These have harsher detention conditions than the existing prisons. Especially in high security and Y type prisons, the ventilation is not in front of the rooms. The 3-storey one is There is a ventilation section on the second floor of these prisons and they are taken here only for 1 and a half hours of the day. We also know that they cannot even benefit from sunlight because the windows of the rooms are densely covered with wire. Prisoners and those sentenced to term imprisonment are also sent here. Since there are cameras in the rooms in Type S prisons. Conditions are getting worse. This is an intimidation, especially to the opposition segment of the society. Since we know that the newly opened prisons will not remain idle, it shows that the path to prison will be opened to the majority of the society."

 

'THE PRISONS SHOULD BE EMPTIED'

 

Stating that instead of opening new prisons, conditions of arrest should be more humane and conditions in line with international and domestic legislation should be created, Ateş continued: "Again, in this sense, prisons need to be emptied to a significant extent. There were people who were released with the changes made in the Execution Law; however, this change is discriminatory. We know that political prisoners are kept apart from these regulations. First of all, this arbitrariness needs to be eliminated and the people who are due to be released need to be released as soon as possible. What the state needs to do is not to establish new prisons, but to improve the conditions of the existing ones and prevent the arbitrary detention of political prisoners."

 

'WE SHOULD BE VOICE TO THE HUNGER STRIKE'

 

Referring to the hunger strike that started in prisons on November 27, Ateş said: "Prisoners conveyed all their demands when they started their hunger strike. These need to be seen and met. We have to speak out to the prisoners so that their demands are met. At the same time, all their demands must be met without anything happening to any prisoner. It is necessary."

 

MA / Tolga Güney