Strip-searching continues in Türkoğlu L Type Closed Prison

The Prison Monitoring Commission of the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) Mersin Branch met with the prisoners in the Türkoğlu L Type Closed Prison in Maraş on 6 December and reported the violations of rights.

The report included the violations cited by Veysi Altan, who is held in Türkoğlu No. 1 L Type Closed Prison. Altan said that there were no cell changes and no social areas. Altan stated that the petitions containing his demands and complaints against the administration did not come out of the prison.

The following was conveyed about the meeting with Altan: “Exit numbers were not given, some guards’ attitudes and behaviours were provocative, they deliberately closed the doors, tried to create an argument, tried to attack those in the ward on 27 November, even the chief officer came to the ward with a threatening attitude. People who were sent to the prison were strip-searched at the entrance of the prison, a letter was written to Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, but the letter was seized by the administration without any justification.”

Strip-searches, isolation and denial of medical treatment

The words of Cevzet Derse, a prisoner held in Türkoğlu No. 2 L Type Closed Prison, are also included in the report. Derse said: “In the meeting held with the applicant on 06/12/2021, it was stated that he was transferred from Türkoğlu L Type Prison No. 2 to Türkoğlu Prison on 18/06/2021. When he arrived, he was told that he would be strip-searched at the entrance. The applicant did not accept this but he and another prisoner, İsmail Çoban, were eventually strip-searched and given a disciplinary penalty.

The applicant also said that there were pieces of shrapnel in his body, 1 in the lung and 2 in the chest, and added that he could not go to the hospital for treatment despite the many problems he had, as his requests for medical treatment were not answered.”

‘Our right to communication is prohibited’

The rights violations experienced by Yunus Akın, who was held in Türkoğlu No. 2 L Type Closed Prison, were also included in the report. Akın, who stayed in the C-10 ward, conveyed the following: “A quota of 5 books imposed on prisoners, there are no social activities, letters sent by internal mail are not sent, the prisoners in the ward write a petition to the Ministry of Justice in a closed envelope, the petition was opened by the guards upon the order of the prosecutor’s office, and not delivered, because it was written collectively.”