Repression and censorship continue in prisons in Turkey where inmates, the political and Kurdish prisoners being in the first place, are suffering further arbitrary impositions and punishments by administrators every day.

The recently imposed limitation of the allowed number of books in wards to 5 has yet been followed by the prohibition of all opponent journals and magazines, those not provided by the big distribution companies, in Tekirdağ, Kandıra, and Sincan F Type prisons and Bakırköy Women’s Closed Prison.

Muhabbet Kurt, who is sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment and currently held in Sincan Women’s Closed Prison, told about the recent impositions they are facing on a fax she was able to send.

Kurt said they came to learn about the new restriction during a routine search in the prison. She said the reason of the limitation was -as told to them- “failure to ensure a disengagement from organisations despite recovery programs”.

Kurt said they will have a meeting with the prison administration regarding the ban, but not hand over the banned journals they currently possess to the administration. “We made this point quite clear to the administration and told them that we would declare a battle if forced to give them”, said Kurt.

In the meantime, the Law Office of the Oppressed reported that the same ban has also been put into practice in Kandıra and Tekirdağ F Type Prisons in addition to Sincan and Bakırköy Women’s Closed Prisons.