The new Turkey
Situation of prisoners held at Imralı Prison

25-Jan-2021

From Report to the Turkish Government on the visit to Turkey carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 6 to 17 May 2019.

From EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Situation of prisoners held at Imralı Prison
As during previous visits, the delegation received no allegations of ill-treatment of prisoners by prison officers. Further, the health-care services and material conditions of detention remained generally satisfactory.

However, the situation regarding the prisoners’ regime had not improved at all since the CPT’s 2016 visit. They were still only allowed to associate all together for six hours per week, as well as in pairs for an additional three hours per week, and association during daily outdoor exercise remained prohibited. As a result, all prisoners were being held in solitary confinement for most of the time (i.e. 159 hours out of 168 hours per week, including 24 hours per day at weekends). In the Committee’s view, such a state of affairs is not acceptable.

The CPT calls upon the Turkish authorities to take steps without further delay to ensure that all prisoners held at Imralı Prison are allowed to associate together during daily outdoor exercise, as well as during all other out-of-cell activities. Further, the Committee reiterates that the underlying concept of the detention regime of persons sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment is fundamentally flawed. It once again calls upon the Turkish authorities to carry out a complete overhaul of the detention regime applied to prisoners sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment in Turkish prisons.

The issue of contact with the outside world of prisoners held at Imralı Prison has been the subject of a long-standing intense dialogue between the CPT and the Turkish authorities, given that no visits by lawyers had been granted since July 2011 and that hardly any visits by family members had taken place since October 2014. The situation was further exacerbated by the fact that, following the military coup attempt of 15 July 2016, a total ban on contacts with the outside world (including correspondence) was imposed on all prisoners, which resulted in a type of incommunicado imprisonment. As repeatedly stressed by the CPT in its dialogue with the Turkish authorities, such a state of affairs is not acceptable and clearly contravenes various relevant international human rights instruments and standards.

The CPT also notes with great concern that, following the lifting of the state of emergency (in July 2018), all prisoners continued to be denied visits by their lawyers and family members. That said, the Committee welcomes the fact that, shortly before the 2019 visit, the judicial ban on lawyers’ visits was lifted and Abdullah Öcalan was granted the first visit by lawyers since July 2011. Further, four more lawyers’ visits took place until the beginning of August 2019. However, since then all requests for visits submitted by lawyers have apparently been turned down. As regards family visits, the situation has slightly improved since the May 2019 visit with all prisoners being able to receive a visit from family members in June and August 2019, despite the existence of disciplinary sanctions of prohibition of family visits.

The Committee acknowledges that there may be valid security reasons to introduce certain restrictions vis-à-vis prisoners on the exercise of their right to have contacts with the outside world. However, a balance must be struck between such security considerations and the basic human rights of the prisoners concerned. The measures taken thus far by the Turkish authorities since the May 2019 visit are a significant step in the right direction. That said, much more needs to be done to render the situation acceptable. More specifically, a sustainable system of regular visits by family members and lawyers should be developed for all prisoners held at Imralı Prison.

Source: https://rm.coe.int/16809f20a2