An ORSA TV program broadcast on April 2, 2020, warned that Turkey’s prisons were far above capacity and unable to provide adequate health protections against the spread of the coronavirus.
“Even if you release 100,000 people, you cannot eliminate the threat in prisons,” the program said. “Reducing a ward for 50 people to 30 does not ensure that the necessary precautions have been taken.”
The warning came as governments around the world were being urged to reduce prison populations and protect detainees from the pandemic. Michelle Bachelet, then United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, called on governments to protect the health and safety of people held in prisons and other closed institutions as the coronavirus spread rapidly across the world.
“In many countries, detention facilities are overcrowded, in some cases dangerously so,” Bachelet said in a written statement, urging governments and relevant authorities to take urgent action to reduce the number of people in prisons.
The program said Turkey’s prison conditions made the danger especially acute, since overcrowded wards, limited space and the inability to isolate prisoners could turn detention facilities into centers of uncontrolled transmission.
The video below examines the risk posed by overcrowded prisons in Turkey during the coronavirus pandemic and argues that partial releases alone cannot solve the problem unless detention conditions themselves are changed.
