Rights violations in prisons continue in a systematic manner, with detainees in Erzurum Dumlu High Security Prison subjected to severe isolation and strict confinement.
Necat Çiçek, a lawyer and member of the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD), said that no improvement has been achieved despite repeated applications and requests for solutions. He warned that both physical and psychological rights violations persist in the prison and called on authorities to take urgent action.
Detainees have no contact or interaction with each other
Çiçek described the situation in Dumlu No. 2 Prison as severe, stating that a four-block system has been established and detainees are kept in complete isolation from one another. He said: “Detainees can only communicate with those in their own block. There is a serious regime of isolation and confinement here. There is no contact with other blocks, and even during hospital transfers, interaction between blocks is prevented. In response to these conditions, detainees have launched protests, first refusing to go to the yard, followed by a boycott of bread.
There are three main reasons behind these protests. First, the prison director’s insistence on making detainee representatives stand while being addressed. This is unacceptable practice. For this reason, detainees have refused to meet with the director for a long time. Second, requests for transfers between wards are not being met. Third, requests for changes between rooms are also being rejected. For detainees who have been held with the same people for years, this situation creates serious problems.”
Hospital transfers delayed for years
Necat Çiçek said no steps have been taken to resolve the issues despite the hunger strike launched by detainees. Çiçek said: “Hospital transfers are not being carried out in the prison. There are detainees who have been waiting for dental treatment for three years. Those who need medication or suffer from pain wait a long time for transfers. Either they are sent after months or not at all.
Some detainees are held on the lowest floor and almost never see sunlight. Even when they are taken to the yard, they cannot receive sunlight due to high walls. This leads to illness.”
Disciplinary investigations opened against detainees for cleaning
Çiçek stated that detainees are not provided with cleaning materials and are forced to obtain them on their own. He said: “Disciplinary investigations were launched against detainees simply for cleaning. Although these investigations ended without prosecution, even cleaning with bleach is treated as a crime in the prison. Due to these conditions, there are serious hygiene problems. Water leaking from upper floors drips into kitchens on the lower floors. As a result, detainees cannot eat in the kitchen. The administration shifts responsibility to higher authorities.”
Families who miss visiting hours are not allowed visits
Necat Çiçek said the right to correspondence is also restricted, noting that letters written in Kurdish are particularly subject to censorship. Çiçek said: “Letters sent by detainees or received by them are either blocked or censored. There are also serious problems and obstacles regarding visiting hours. Because visits are scheduled early in the day, families traveling from other cities have to set out at night. This creates significant risks, especially during winter. There have been accidents in the past and people have lost their lives.”
Detainees who raise issues are threatened
Çiçek also claimed that detainees are subjected to threats. He said: “When detainees demand solutions to these problems, they face threats instead of dialogue. Prison administrators tell them, ‘We will deal with you after this process is over.’ The policy being implemented includes both physical and psychological isolation. Detainees’ communication has been completely cut off. Despite all applications, no concrete steps have been taken by the relevant authorities. The problems continue.”
No social activities at all
Izzet Gökalp, speaking about his son Cihan Gökalp, who is held in Dumlu No. 2 Prison, recounted their most recent phone conversation. He said that the systematic problems that have persisted for months remain unresolved and continue in the same way. He added that neither the letters they send nor the clothes they deliver are given to detainees.
Gökalp stated that his son, who is serving an aggravated life sentence, has been in prison for ten years and was most recently transferred from Elazığ Prison to Dumlu. He described the conditions as follows: “There are very serious problems in the prison. Detainees cannot talk to each other or come together in any workshop. None of the problems are ever resolved. These issues have continued unchanged for months. We sent clothes to my son, but the scarf we sent was returned on the grounds that it was ‘too wide.’ Yard time is limited to one and a half hours, and there are no social activities at all. They can neither see the sun nor get fresh air.
Unlike other prisons, it is a completely closed environment. My son often stresses how different it is from other prisons. In the face of this pressure, solidarity visits to the prison should be increased, and the demands of detainees must be taken into account.”
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