The Administration and Observation Commissions in Turkey’s prisons have extended time served for at least 271 prisoners by up to a year, the Human Rights Association’s (İHD) Diyarbakır chapter chairman Ercan Yılmaz said citing a report by his association.
The commissions were installed in a 2021 amendment to the Law on Execution of Sentences, and comprise civil servants and prosecutors. They have the authority to assess good behaviour conditions for convicts, and could delay release for between six months to a year.
At the time, NGOs had pushed for commissions to comprise neutral parties, but “the government disregarded objections”, Yılmaz said. “The current state of the commissions and Turkey itself leaves no doubt that decisions are made under pressure from the government.”
The 271 convicts served longer sentences “upon abstract reasons”, the lawyer added.
Commissions use a points system to assess prisoners, using arbitrary metrics including how many and what types of books they checked out from the prison library and the colour of the clothes their relatives sent them to wear.
Some have been refused release over disciplinary penalties issued years ago. “The abuse of these old penalties shortly before the prisoner is released strengthens the sense that these councils were established to work against the prisoners’ interests,” Yılmaz said.
The commissions have also asked prisoners whether they were remorseful. “Asking about remorse during a release assessment means that the commissions have put themselves in the place of courts,” Yılmaz said. “The question clearly violates Article 25 of the Constitution, the right to free opinion.”
According to the İHD chair, such methods constitute a “secondary punishment mechanism”.