Ill prisoner Nimet Değiş (63), who is in Maraş Türkoğlu L Type Closed Prison, has tested positive to coronavirus. Değiş has been in jail for 28 and a half years and suffers from pharyngitis, goiter, hernia, kidney and intestinal disorders. Değiş was taken to Maraş State Hospital on 7 December and tested positive.

On the evening of 7 December, Değiş 's wife, Sultan Değiş, was called by the hospital and told that her husband had tested positive for coronavirus. Stating that her husband was recently taken to the hospital due to goiter disease, and then put into a quarantine for 14 days in prison, she said: "He could not stay in quarantine alone. He is ill, he could not meet his own needs, so we learned that his ward friend Aziz Atlığ was assigned as a companion to him for 14 days. Before his quarantine was over, he was taken back to the hospital as his condition worsened. He was tested for coronavirus and taken back to prison where he was quarantined again. On 7 December the hospital called us and told us that he had tested positive. For some reason the hospital had our number.”

On the morning of 8 December Sultan Değiş called the prison authorities and asked about her husband, but instead of providing information, the prison authorities asked who gave them the test results, and when she told them that it had been the hospital they just put the phone down on her.

Stating that they called the prison twice a day but the authorities did not provide reliable information, Sultan Değiş said: “They say his situation is good but we do not trust them. We want to hear from him. He is 63 years old and has many illnesses.”

Call to the authorities

Addressing the state officials, Sultan Değiş said: “He has one and a half years more to serve, he is ill” and call on them to “release all ill prisoners.”