It came out that Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan was subject to a disciplinary penalty in September 2018. According to the Mezopotamya Agency, Abdullah Öcalan's family visits were suspended for three months in September 2018 because he had "paced" during his "sports exercises." On the basis of a disciplinary investigation launched by the prison's Disciplinary Board when Abdullah Öcalan paced with other prisoners on İmralı Island after playing volleyball and basketball, a penalty of "deprivation of visitors for 3 months" was imposed on 14 September 2018 on the grounds that "he turned sports activity into a conversation."

Abdullah Öcalan, who opposed to the punishment imposed by the Bursa Execution Judge, remarked that pacing is the only regular form of action in jails, and that this right has been denied, and that the injustice must be rectified.

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) remarked on the disciplinary punishment meted out to the Kurdish People's Leader in their reports published on August 6, 2020, regarding his visit on May 6-17, 2019.