News Center - The Prisons Commission of Turkey's Human Rights Association (İHD) held a press conference and announced that there are currently 1,517 sick prisoners in Turkish prisons, 651 of whom are critically ill, 46 sick prisoners have died since the beginning of 2021.

İHD Co-chair Öztürk Türkdoğan noted that there are 314, 502 people in prisons across Turkey and that the number of the people in prison is constantly increasing. “The construction of the High-Security prisons and S-type prisons in recent years has been aggravating the isolation in prisons and causes the prisoners to suffer both physical and mental problems. The prisoners have faced many rights violations; mostly their right to health is violated. Since the first Covid-19 case was reported in Turkey in March 2020, the health problems faced by prisoners have increased,” Öztürk Türkdoğan said.

At least 46 sick prisoners have died since the beginning of 2021

According to the report, at least 46 sick prisoners have died since the beginning of 2021, 15 of whom died of coronavirus while three of them were critically ill. According to the 2020 report of the Human Rights Association (IHD), the number of sick prisoners in Turkish prisons was 1,605, 604 of whom were critically ill. The report reveals that the number of seriously sick prisoners has increased.