Announcing the report on the prisons in the Serhat region, IHD Van Branch said that the isolation has been increased to the highest level and that the prisoners on hunger strike are under a lot of pressure.
Human Rights Association (IHD) Van Branch published its reports about Van High Security, T and F Type, Patnos L Type, Ahlat T, Iğdır S, Erzurum Dumlu No. 1 and 2 High Security and Kars T Type Prisons. Branch president, lawyer Mehmet Salih Coşkun said that they interviewed a total of 23 prisoners.
He said that even the most basic human rights of the prisoners were suspended and isolation increased badly. Coşkun added that the prisoners’ communication rights were also blocked.
Coşkun also spoke about the use of dispersion as a further punishment of both prisoners and their families who often could not go to visit their children for years. The lawyer also touched upon the situation of the seriously ill prisoners and said: "The execution of the sentences of the seriously ill prisoners should be stopped, and the necessary procedures should be taken for their immediate release. Again, all ill prisoners should be treated completely in a way that befits human dignity."
Pressure on prisoners on hunger strike
Referring to the ongoing hunger strikes in prisons, Coşkun listed the rights violations as follows:
"-Daily health checks of prisoners on hunger strike are not carried out at all in some prisons, and in prisons where they are, they are not carried out by the infirmary physician, but are sometimes carried out by the health officer and sometimes by the prison guards on duty,
-Prisoners on hunger strike are not given any subsistence food in some prisons, and in some prisons they are given salt, sugar and baking soda, but not yoghurt, fruit juice, etc.
-While vitamin B1 is vital for prisoners on hunger strike, it was only provided in the last days of the hunger strike in some prisons, and vitamin B1 or B12 complex was not given at all in some prisons.
-Disciplinary investigations were opened due to hunger strikes, disciplinary punishments were given to prisoners who went on strike, disciplinary punishments such as 'withholding from cultural and sports activities' were given, as well as 'deprivation or restriction of communication and means of communication' in some prisons.
-In some prisons visited, it was determined that prisoners who went on strike were removed from other prisoners and taken to a separate ward (section)."
