It has been reported that women prisoners who refuse arbitrary searches in Bayburt M Type Prison have not been allowed visits for 5 months.

The lawyers said that the prison guards had told prisoners to take out their shoes before going to visits so that guards could check them. The prisoners who refused, said the lawyers, have been denied visit permission for 5 months.

The lawyers also said that the guards wanted to perform a standing count every day and that prisoners who refuse that were confined to their cell for three days each week.

"Every woman - said the lawyers - has been given dozens of days of cell confinement."

Families also are protesting against the treatment towards their relatives.

On the other hand, it was reported that the wards were full and many women were actually sleeping on the ground. It was also said that a ward was emptied and turned into a cell and women therefore have to squeeze together.

The women prisoners sent the following message: "If the public opinion is not reacting, this practice will continue, and if it continues, we will not come to the visits.”