NCJ Number
183926
Date Published
May 2000
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Human Rights Watch is concerned that the Turkish Government has implemented an isolation regime for prisoners being held in cells at Kartal Special Type Prison in Istanbul while on trial for offenses under the Anti-Terror Law.
Abstract
Human Rights Watch does not oppose the cell system as such, and indeed recognizes that under the right scheme of management, there may be benefits for prisoners and prison authorities alike in such an arrangement; however, Human Rights Watch has two primary concerns: to the extent the cell-based system is accompanied by an isolation regime that provides prisoners with no access to education or recreational activities or other sources of mental stimulation, the system may itself amount to ill-treatment; and a regime of isolation that severely limits access to other inmates as well as the outside world may also increase the risk of ill-treatment of prisoners by prison staff. Human Rights Watch has interviewed former prisoners and current prisoners' families about the conditions and regime in the Kartal Special Type Prison. From their testimonies, it appears that these prisoners are suffering the physical and psychological symptoms recorded elsewhere as an effect of small group isolation, including depression, anxiety, and deteriorating eyesight. The Turkish Government is currently building a new generation of prisons, the F-type, and restructuring its entire prison system. It is widely believed that the small group isolation regime currently used in the Kartal Special Type Prison is a prototype for F-type prisons currently under construction. Human Rights Watch has made known to the Turkish Government its opposition to such a regime and asked for specific information on the type of regime to be instituted in the new prisons. The government has not provided the requested information nor agreed to a request to visit the prisons. 18 footnotes and a list of Human Rights Watch 2000 publications