Deputy and lawyer denounces pit-type prisons at Turkish National Assembly

Opposition party CHP Istanbul MP and Member of the Parliamentary Justice Commission, Attorney Turan Taşkın Özer, spoke about Pit-Type Prisons in his address to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

These are excerpts of his speech:

“Above all, the government also built “pit-type” prisons.

These prisons have no prison (exercise) yards, the windows are covered with metal sheets, and even sunlight is prohibited. There is no privacy in the cells; prisoners are monitored by cameras 24 hours a day.

The doors open and close with electronic systems; if the system malfunctions, prisoners are denied even their one hour of fresh air per day (by accessing the yard).

Forget conversation; in prisons housing thousands of people, inmates never see another human face.

The right to exercise is once a month.

Medical examinations are conducted with handcuffs on.

If you ask for the handcuffs to be removed, the examination is not performed.

This is cruelty.

This is clearly torture!”