Prisons in Turkey have become a centre of torture, especially for revolutionary and Kurdish prisoners. In addition to the isolation conditions prevailing in all prisons and the arbitrary restriction of rights by the administration, the ill-treatment of prisoners by guards and soldiers is increasing day by day.

Furthermore, in recent years, the practice of not releasing political prisoners after they have completed their regular sentence has become widespread. The legislation defines this procedure, which is mainly used as a means of pressure in the case of sick prisoners, as follows: "If the convict commits an intentional offence that entails a custodial sentence between the time of conditional release and the supervision period, the convict's release shall be suspended. It is sufficient that the second offence is committed within the supervision period." However, since the term "offence" is not defined here and it is the responsibility of the prison administration to impose sentences, prisoners are arbitrarily punished. When suspending release, prison administrations use every step prisoners take as a pretext to punish them.

Administrative committees decide on the length of execution

For this practice, administrative observing committees were introduced by the government at the end of 2020 with the propaganda that they "increase the chances of early release". However, the committees have become an institution used to delay the release of political prisoners. After the committees began their work, both conditional release and the transition to open detention became more difficult.

The committees are defined in the legislation as follows: The Administrative and Observing Committee is chaired by the institution director and consists of the second director, who is responsible for observation and classification, the administrative officer, the prison doctor, the psychiatrist, the psychologist, the social worker, the teacher, the head of the correctional service and the protection officer, and an official selected by the prison director from the technical staff."

The same law defines the decision-making mechanism of the committees as follows: "The administrative and observation board decides on the convict on the basis of the observation and development assessment reports, the risk assessment report and all the information and documents in the correctional files. As part of this assessment, the board may interview the convict upon request or ex officio".

Reasons: Too many books read, too much water consumed, too much laughter

In 2021, the release of over sixty political prisoners was prevented by these committees. The reasons given by the committee for this are bizarre:

No remorse

Refused to talk to an imam

No good conduct

Failure to comply with prison rules

Failure to use water sparingly

Non-participation in prison activities

Reading many books

Failure to support the staff during searches

Laughing during visits

Singing anthems

Singing Kurdish folk songs

No dissociation from the organisation

Having a family member under arrest

A political prisoner who has never been married was denied release on the grounds that she had killed her husband and could harm her family. For another prisoner, who has daughters aged six and nine, the reason given was: "The children are involved in activities of the organisation."

The suspension of release by the monitoring committees is now so widespread that it is difficult to obtain any data at all. According to available figures, at least 217 political prisoners have been affected so far. Some of these prisoners were later released, while others have not been released to date.

Some of the prisoners whose release has been suspended are as follows:

Cevahir Vurucu - Laughing during a conversation with a visitor

Ferit Orak - Excessive consumption of water

Şevket Bilici - Lack of remorse

Eight political prisoners in Diyarbakır T Type No. 1 - Lack of remorse

Songül Bagadır, Kandıra L Type - Lack of remorse

Ercan İşcan, Giresun Espiye L Type - Failure to support the staff during searches

Murat Aktaş, Kandıra F Type No. 1 - Disciplinary sanctions

Fahriye Ceylan, Alanya L Type - Lack of remorse

Twelve women in Bayburt M Type - Refusal of military roll call

Almost all political prisoners in Sincan women's prison

Metin Güven, Yozgat T Type - Lack of remorse

Aliye Süer, Diyarbakır women's prison – singing an anthem

Twelve prisoners in Bolu - Excessive water consumption and lack of remorse

Resul Baltacı, Düzce Çilimli T Type - Lack of remorse

Hatice Çakmak, L Type women's prison in Alanya – Solitary confinement

Kadir Karabak, Tekirdağ F Type No. 2 - political activity of underage daughters

Rojda Erez, Sincan women's prison - "You killed your husband and you will harm your family."

Hanım Yıldırım, Sincan women's prison – “Your brother is a supporter of the Gülen movement.”

Sabri Yakut, Hakan Zertürk, Bilal Balbeş, Faruk Aydemir, Erzurum Dumlu No. 1 and 2 - Lack of remorse

Şemsettin Tekin, Sevgi İlboğa, Oltu T Type - Lack of Remorse

Mehmet Cengel, Van High Security Prison - Lack of Remorse

Dilan Oynaş, Sincan Women's Prison - Disciplinary sanctions

Xense Bulut (Peace Mother), Izmir Şakran Women's Prison - Lack of remorse

Azise Yağız, Tarsus T Type - Bad Behaviour

Damla Erdem, Sevda Turgal, Şakran Women's Prison - Lack of Remorse

İlyas Peldek, Abdulhaluk Özerk, Samsun Bafra F Type - Disobedience to the rules

Abdurrahim Çetinkaya, Şakran L Type No. 3 - Disciplinary sanctions