UPDATES AND INFO ON THE HISTORICAL STRUGGLE TO ISOLATION PRISONS IN TURKEY

Date: 3 SEPTEMBER 2025

Subject: Urgent Update on Pit-Type Prisons and Prisoner Resistance in Turkey

1. Introduction

This briefing provides an overview of Turkey’s S-, R-, and Y-type high-security prisons (also called “Well-Type” or “Pit-Type”), their architecture, history of resistance, and current human rights concerns. These prisons are part of a post-2000 “new generation” high-security penitentiary system, designed to maximize isolation and control, particularly targeting political prisoners.

It includes:

• A historical overview of the development of S-, R-, and Y-type prisons.
• Architectural features and the logic behind their design.
• A timeline of resistance from 2000 to 2025.
• Current hunger strike and death fast actions by prisoners.
• Broader political and civil society responses.
• The urgency of the situation and calls for attention to the conditions inside these prisons.

2. A Brief History of Solitary Confinement Prisons in Turkey

Turkey’s S-, R-, and Y-type prisons are extensions of F-type prisons, introduced around 2000 after the “Return to Life” operation. They were designed for maximum isolation, targeting political prisoners in particular.

Timeline Overview

• F-type prisons (2000): Small, isolated cells replacing ward-style dormitories. Central to the 2000–2007 “Death Fast” resistance.
• S-type prisons (2005–2007): Smaller-scale F-types, for “terror” and organized crime prisoners, with 1–3 person cells and small courtyards.
• R-type prisons (late 2000s–2010s): Presented as rehabilitation centers but in practice served as “death houses” for sick and elderly prisoners.
• Y-type prisons (2018–2022+): The harshest model, wedge-shaped, soundproof single cells, remote locations, and extreme isolation.

Architectural Features

S-Type:

• Small cells for 1–3 prisoners with concrete courtyards.
• 24/7 surveillance, restricting socialization to only cellmates.

R-Type:

• Hospital-like blocks with isolation wards.
• Limited medical access: prisoners often left to deteriorate.

Y-Type:

• Wedge-shaped, soundproof “closed-box” cells.
• Maximum fragmentation of prisoner contact; called “tombs of silence.”

General Features:

• Isolation designed to break collective life and solidarity.
• High walls, soundproofing, monitored visits.
• Limited or no common areas; severe psychological effects.

3. EU & International Standards

• EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (Art. 4): Prohibits inhuman or degrading treatment; excessive solitary confinement violates this right.
• European Court of Human Rights (ECHR): Long-term or indefinite solitary confinement can constitute inhuman treatment.
• European Prison Rules (2020): Solitary confinement only in exceptional cases; prolonged solitary (>15 days) prohibited.
• UN Mandela Rules (2015): Prolonged solitary confinement = torture or ill-treatment.

4. Timeline of Resistance in Turkey (2000–2025)

Year	Event/Resistance
2000	“Return to Life Operation” – 28 prisoners killed; mass hunger strikes & death fasts begin.
2000–2007	Death fasts by DHKP-C, MLKP, TKP/ML prisoners; 122 deaths; international solidarity mobilized. Concessions achieved.
2005–2010	Resistance spreads to S-type prisons; hunger strikes & protests by families (e.g., TAYAD).
2010s	R-types (“hospital prisons”) face protests; ill prisoners refuse handcuffed medical treatment; families expose deaths.
2016	Post-coup State of Emergency; isolation tightened.
2018–2019	Y-types emerge; total isolation; hunger strikes and smuggled letters highlight torture.
2018–2021	Leyla Güven & nationwide hunger strikes; thousands participate across prison types.
2020–2021	COVID-19 used to intensify isolation; prisoners protest via hunger strikes and SEGBİS refusals.
2022–2025	Ongoing resistance in R-, S-, Y-type prisons; families and lawyers document conditions; calls for closure intensify.

5. Key Prisoners Currently Resisting

Serkan Onur Yılmaz: 297 Ali Aracı: 198 Seval Aracı: 20 Ali Dilmen: 24 Ayberk Demirdöğen: 177 Fikret Akar: 158 Fırat Kaya: 33 Ümit Çobanoğlu: 98 Gürkan Türkoğlu: 39 Tahsin Sağaltıcı: 39 Hüseyin Özen: 17

Name	Prison	Type	Start Date	Current Day	Notes / Demands
Serkan Onur Yılmaz	Bolu F-Type		10 Nov 2024	297	Converted hunger strike to death fast (31 Jul); demands closure of pit-types, transfer of 8 comrades, restoration of rights.
Ayberk Demirdöğen	Kırıkkale F Type		11 Mar 2025	177	Converted to death fast on 27 Aug.
Ali Aracı (Grup Yorum)	Ankara – Sincan High Security No. 1	pit-type	18 Feb 2025	198	Indefinite hunger strike.
Fikret Akar	Çorlu High Security	Y-Type	30 Mar 2025	158	Indefinite hunger strike.
Ümit Çobanoğlu	Antalya High Security	R/S-Type	29 May 2025	98	Hunger strike demanding closure of death cells.
Fırat Kaya (Grup Yorum)	Kirikkale F-Type		27 July 2025	39	Hunger strike; demands end of repression against Grup Yorum & other artists; fulfil all prisoners’ demands.
Tahsin Sağaltıcı	Antalya High Security	pit-type	27 Jul 2025	39	Hunger strike for closure of Well-Type prisons.
Gürkan Türkoğlu	Antalya High Security	pit-type	27 Jul 2025	39	Same as above.
Seval Aracı	Marmara Closed, Silivri		15 Aug 2025	20	Hunger strike for closure of death cells, support ing his brother Ali Araci.
Ali Dilmen	Kocaeli F-type High Security No 2	pit-type	11 Aug 2025	24	Hunger strike for closure of death cells.
Hüseyin Özen	Antalya High Security	pit-type	18 Aug 2025	17

6. Broader Political and Civil Society Resistance

• ESP (Socialist Party of the Oppressed): Hunger strikes and petitions following transfers to pit-type prisons.
• DEM Party: Publicly calling for closure of Well-Type prisons.
• CİSST: Documented rights violations; highlighted isolation, limited access to healthcare, and obstruction of family contact.
• Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı: Forensic expert; described conditions as effectively torturous.

7. Recent Reports and Findings on Y-Type / S-Type (“Well-Type”) Prisons

1. Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD) Press Conference – May 2025

• Lawyers from ÇHD raised serious concerns about Y-type, S-type, and High Security (“well-type”) prisons, describing them as institutions of aggravated isolation.
• Their accounts stated inmates spend 23 hours a day confined in their cells, with just one hour of ventilation inciting zero human contact.
• The isolation regime began with F-type prisons in the 2000s and has intensified significantly since 2021, with the state operating these prisons with complete opacity and no public transparency.
• Lawyers labeled this as effectively an indefinite solitary confinement sentence, especially egregious since even those inmates not sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment are held permanently in single cells—violating Article 25 of Turkey’s Law on Execution of Sentences.
• Testimonies describe these prisons as designed to “destroy a person’s social nature,” where even basic social or reading material sharing is forbidden.

Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) Reports on Solitary Confinement in Prisons

2. TİHV’s Alternative Report to the UN Committee Against Torture (July 2024)

In July 2024, TİHV submitted an alternative periodic report to the UN Committee Against Torture. The report states that torture has increased, and solitary confinement has become normalized in Turkish prisons. It also highlights a culture of impunity reinforced by the Constitutional Court’s (AYM) decisions. Importantly, it states that at least 73 prisoners have died since 2022, with many deaths linked to their health conditions and prison isolation.

This document is especially significant because it frames solitary confinement not as an exceptional measure, but as an accepted practice—making it all the more alarming.

3. Field Data on Ill-Treatment and Solitary in Prisons (2020–2021)

A 2021 joint report produced by TİHV and İHD, titled “The Reality of Torture in Different Dimensions in Turkey”, documents qualitative and quantitative data showing that in prison settings, detainees face harsh disciplinary practices, including:

• Strip-searching at entry
• Forced numbering and standing
• Rough beatings
• Arbitrary disciplinary punishments
• Confinement in solitary cells
• Denial of access to healthcare and legal visitation
• Severe health neglect and suspicious prisoner deaths

Though this report primarily addresses torture and ill-treatment broadly, it underscores that solitary confinement is one among several inhuman practices routinely used in detention facilities.

Supporting Context: Broader Patterns of Solitary and Small-Group Isolation in Turkish Prisons

4. Case Study – Neslihan Ekinci (Harvard Human Rights Journal, 2019)

• Ekinci’s case illustrates how Turkish authorities systematically use solitary confinement without any judicial sentence, targeting alleged dissidents to punish, demotivate, and eliminate dissent.
• This practice, particularly when imposed indefinitely and without appeal, violates Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.

7. Context & Urgency

• Death fasts and hunger strikes continue long-standing resistance traditions.
• Prisoners face irreversible harm due to prolonged deprivation of nutrients, sunlight, and human contact.
• Solidarity and monitoring are critical to prevent further deaths.

8. Call to Action

• Increase International Pressure: Demand that the Turkish government immediately abolish its policy of prolonged solitary confinement and close the S-, R-, and Y-Type isolation prisons that subject prisoners to inhumane treatment.
• Guarantee Humane Transfers: Ensure the immediate transfer of all prisoners held in isolation to facilities where they can maintain meaningful human contact, social interaction, and access to rehabilitative activities.
• Protect Fundamental Rights: Monitor prison conditions and guarantee prisoners’ rights to adequate healthcare, unrestricted access to legal counsel, and regular family visits.
• Raise Global Awareness: Amplify the urgent human rights violations taking place in Turkey’s high-security prisons, and mobilize solidarity at local, national, and international levels to end the use of isolation as a form of punishment.