The Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) issued a report about the rise in torture allegations in several prisons between June and December.
ÖHD member Mehmet Baran Sarı said that violations of the prohibition of torture, the right to health, freedom of communication and expression, and practices degrading human dignity have become widespread in prisons.
According to the report prepared following ÖHD visits to high-security and S-type prisons in Antalya, Manavgat, Burdur, and Alanya, access to hospitals for sick prisoners is being deliberately obstructed. Sarı said that handcuffed medical examinations, oral cavity searches, and isolation practices are widespread, adding that hospital transfers have been delayed for months in many prisons, particularly at Antalya High-Security Prison.
Sarı also said that even urgent endoscopy procedures, dental treatment, and cardiac care have been postponed. He noted that some prisoners have not been taken to hospital for more than a year, that infirmary services remain inadequate, and that medications are withheld for weeks at a time.
Isolation and social segregation deepening
Sarı said prisoners are taken to hospital in handcuffs and that the restraints are not removed during medical examinations, adding that those who refuse this practice are sent back to prison without being examined. He said the gendarmerie exerts pressure on doctors and that the Istanbul Protocol is not implemented, noting that prisoners in high-security prisons are held in single-occupancy cells and are not even brought together with other prisoners in the same block.
Sarı said sports and workshop activities are either not held at all or are merely symbolic. He added that prisoners serving aggravated life sentences are completely deprived of their rights to social interaction, courses, and shared exercise yards. Workshops were described as nonfunctional, the right to sports as being limited to one hour per week, and collective activities as being blocked in violation of existing regulations.
Censorship of Kurdish letters, bans on publications
The report said letters written in Kurdish are deliberately delayed, censored, or lost. Sarı said several publications, including Yeni Yaşam, are not delivered to prisoners, that book quotas are applied arbitrarily, and that Kurdish-language books are held for months under the pretext of “translation.”
Severe torture allegations in Burdur
The section on Burdur High-Security Prison included serious allegations of torture. Sarı said prisoner I.D. was forced to the ground with reverse handcuffs during a cell search, had his throat squeezed, his ribs kicked, and was threatened with death. He added that cameras were turned off during the torture and that this occurred on the instructions of prison administrators. Similar practices were described as systematic, particularly against Kurdish prisoners.
Sarı also said water in prisons is rationed; hygiene materials are insufficient, and that fungal and skin diseases have become widespread due to contaminated water. The report noted that food is of poor quality, lacks adequate protein and fresh produce, and that prisoners who are ill or on special diets are not provided with appropriate nutrition.
Arbitrary delays in releases
Sarı said releases at Manavgat S-Type Prison are being postponed in three-month intervals through Observation and Administration Boards, adding that the practice of extending sentences has become widespread. He said many prisoners are denied release on the grounds that they are deemed “not of good conduct.”
In the conclusion of the report, the ÖHD called on the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Human Rights Inquiry Commission, the Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey (TIHEK), and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) to take action. The report demanded the immediate release of seriously ill prisoners, an end to torture and isolation practices, and the establishment of independent oversight mechanisms in prisons.
Sarı stressed that the violations are not isolated incidents but systematic, calling for effective investigations to be conducted against those responsible.