WAN - Stating that the increasing violations of rights in prisons have reached the level of violations of the right to life, Attorney Dersim Erişen said: "Deaths may increase in prisons and that we could not get a response from the authorities to whom we reported the problems.

 

According to the data of the Human Rights Association (İHD), there are 1,517 ill prisoners, 651 of whom are seriously ill, in prisons where a new violation of rights is reported to the public every day. The prisoners resist with their actions against all oppression and violations of the right to life. The 10-day indefinite alternating hunger strike, launched on November 3, 2022 against isolation and rights violations, continues in Konya Ereğli High Security Prison. Prisoner Yakup Brukanli, who set his body on fire on October 28, 2022 and suffered from second-degree burns due to the isolation and increasing rights violations, is being treated in the prison infirmary despite the risk of infection.

 

Human Rights Association (İHD) Wan Branch Prisons Commission Member Lawyer Dersim Erişen spoke about what happened in prisons.

 

THE RIGHT TO HEALTH IS NOT REACHED

 

Stating that access to the right to health has become a problem in prisons, Erişen said: “Prisoners lose their lives because there is no adequate treatment opportunity, both physically and psychologically. The situation in prisons is very bad and deaths may increase even more. We are unable to get adequate answers to the questions we posed to the relevant persons in this regard. Neither the prisons nor the Ministry of Justice are making any statements."

 

ATK TURNED INTO TORTURE FOR ILL PRISONER

 

Noting that prison administrations do not comply with international law, Erişen said: “Particularly, political prisoners face many problems such as naked search, imposition of standing counts, isolation, not benefiting from social activities, restriction of the right to communication, malnutrition, prevention of access to the right to health, executions and also they are held despite serving their sentences. In execution law, the protection rights of the prisoner to life is the responsibility of the public administration that keeps it under control. Especially in the last year, when we look at the number of suspect deaths in prisons, the number of prisoners who were prevented from being released and whose bodies were taken out in prison, it becomes clear how the ATK reports laid the groundwork for the deaths. The problem now reaches the dimensions of a violation of the right to life. The decision to postpone the execution of the sentence is made on the basis of ATK reports; however, reports from fully-fledged state hospitals should be sufficient to postpone the execution. The fact that the state only bases on ATK reports display that it sees its own public hospitals as dysfunctional. This turns into torture for a ill prisoner, who has to travel many kilometers to get an ATK report.”

 

THE RIGHTS OF PRISONERS MUST BE PROTECTED

 

Pointing out that the state is responsible for the health and life of prisoners in prison, Erişen continued: “The prisoners should be held in conditions where they can protect their mental and physical health, and the right to access health services should also be guaranteed. Every incarcerated individual has the right to benefit from a health service equal to those outside the prison. Again, the Prison Monitoring Board almost plays the role of a parallel court. He asks abstract, irrational questions to the prisoner whose sentence is about to end, and executes executions with arbitrary practices. It is necessary to solve the problems experienced, to change the prison system, to urgently release and treat ill prisoners, and to abandon the regulation based on the rehabilitation of the prisoner.”