The new Turkey
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 9 to 21 June 2013

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At the outset of the visit, the delegation was briefed by the Turkish authorities on the implementation of the government programme for upgrading and expanding the prison estate. It was indicated that much emphasis had been given in this context to the model of large penitentiary campuses comprising several prison establishments, including institutions for juveniles and women and high-security prisons.

Such campuses already existed in Ankara, Istanbul-Silivri, Istanbul- Maltepe, Izmir and Kocaeli, and work was underway to build similar facilities in Diyarbakır, Kayseri, Konya and Tarsus. A considerable number of smaller prison establishments had also been constructed in different regions.

According to information provided to the delegation, in total some 60 new prison establishments had been brought into service since 2009, with an overall capacity of about 31,000 places. In parallel, 57 old prisons had been taken out of service and the closure of a further 171 prisons was planned by the end of 2017.

Moreover, the authorities planned to bring into service 207 new prisons (with an overall capacity of some 125,000 places) by the end of 2017, thereby increasing the total capacity of the Turkish prison estate to some 245,000 places. It must be noted, however, that the size of the prisoner population too was expected to further increase to 180 - 190,000 (i.e. an incarceration rate of some 250 per 100,000 inhabitants).29

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Information was also provided on measures taken to develop alternatives to imprisonment. In particular, an amendment was made to the LESSM in 2012, making it possible to release on probation prisoners who demonstrate good behaviour and have less than one year remaining to be served before the date of their eligibility for conditional release. The authorities were also considering the introduction of electronic surveillance outside prison for certain accused and sentenced persons, and the relevant legal provisions had already been adopted.

The CPT welcomes the Turkish authorities' efforts to tackle the problem of prison overcrowding; however, it is clear that the measures taken to date have not been sufficient. In this connection, the Committee must express its grave concern about the actual – but also predicted – rise in the country's inmate population. As the CPT has stressed in the past, constructing new prisons is not likely, in itself, to provide a lasting solution to the problem of overcrowding.

Addressing this problem calls for a coherent strategy, covering both admission to and release from prison, to ensure that imprisonment really is the measure of last resort. This implies, in the first place, an emphasis on non-custodial measures and, in the second place, the adoption of measures which facilitate the reintegration into free society of persons who have been deprived of their liberty.

Source: 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 9 to 21 June 2013

28 At the time of the 2012 visit, the establishment was accommodating some 1,300 prisoners.

29 The authorities explained such a forecast by a sharp increase in the crime rate as well as the clearing up by the
courts of the longstanding backlog of criminal cases, following recent judicial reforms. See also paragraph 73
of the CPT's report on the 2009 visit (CPT/Inf (2011)13), in particular as regards the increase in the waiting
period for conditional release.