COE EXPERT: TURKISH PRISONS RUN WITH "LOCK DOWN"

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 002689

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/10/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TU OSCE
SUBJECT: COE EXPERT: TURKISH PRISONS RUN WITH "LOCK DOWN"
MENTALITY

Classified by Polcouns John Kunstadter; reasons 1.4 b and d.


1. (C) Summary: A Council of Europe (COE) prison expert says
the design of Turkey's high-security F-type prisons meets
European standards, but some practices are draconian.
Inmates are allowed very little time outside their cells.
There is no evidence of systematic torture, but prison
officials put problem inmates in isolation without seeking
prison board approval. Moreover, many prisoners in the
F-type system are convicted of terrorism although their
crimes involve non-violent speech. A draft law will require
prisons to establish education and training programs, but no
money has been allocated for this purpose. End Summary.


2. (C) We met in April with a COE prison expert conducting a
review of Turkey's prisons. Our contact, a UK citizen and
former prison director in Britain, is conducting a two-year
study scheduled to end in 2006. He has inspected 36 Turkish
prisons to date and has made recommendations to the GOT on
prison reform. He shared with us his observations on the
Turkish penal system.

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The Truth About F-Type Prisons
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3. (U) The issue of Turkey's high-security F-type prisons is
emotionally charged and highly politicized. Until 2000,
almost all Turkish prisons utilized a ward system, in which
prisoners lived in open wards with 50 to 200 inmates.
Prisoners convicted of terrorism and those who shared similar
ideological views were often incarcerated together. As a
result, terrorist organizations effectively ran the wards,
recruiting and intimidating inmates. Prison authorities were
reduced to maintaining perimeter security.


4. (U) To address the situation, the Justice Ministry between
December 2000 and January 2001 moved hundreds of prisoners
charged with terrorism and organized crime into new,
small-cell F-type prisons. The F-type design resembles
prisons in developed countries and is consistent with
recommendations made to Turkey by the COE's Committee for the
Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment. F-type cells hold 1-4 inmates and the prisons
have open-air yards.


5. (C) Human rights organizations and prisoners' groups claim
that prison authorities isolate F-type inmates, torture them,
and deny them access to water, food, electricity, and
toilets. A number of demonstrators have died during hunger
strikes protesting the F-type prisons. We cannot completely
discount the allegations, but there is no evidence to support
them. Moreover, the prisoners' groups are closely linked to
terrorist organizations such as the Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK) and Revolutionary People's Liberation Front (DHKP-C).
We have occasionally met with representatives of the
Association for Solidarity with the Families of the Arrestees
and found them to be highly indoctrinated. When pressed,
they defend the use of violence against the Turkish State.


6. (C) Our contact told us the F-type prisons are neither as
repressive as critics claim nor as progressive as the GOT
would have us believe. Physically, they are first rate. But
some of the administrative practices are draconian. Most
F-type inmates are held in three-person cells. Authorities
sharply restrict their access to other prisoners and
opportunity to exercise outside the cell. These restrictions
do not violate COE standards for terrorist inmates -- the
rules provide wide latitude for the treatment of those
convicted of terrorism (Note: For example, the European Court
of Human Rights has ruled that PKK leader Ocalan's prison
conditions as the sole inmate on Imrali Island are legal,
though the Court has determined that he did not receive a
fair trial. End Note).


7. (C) However, our contact said, in other COE countries
terrorist prisoners by definition have been convicted of
direct links to terrorist violence. In Turkey, many
defendants convicted under the Anti-Terrorism Law were found
guilty of non-violent speech deemed sympathetic to terrorist
organizations. In some cases, for example, defendants have
been convicted of being PKK supporters for advocating
education in Kurdish, which the PKK has demanded. These
types of prisoners are incarcerated in F-type prisons under
the same conditions as violent militants. As part of the EU
reform process, the GOT has revised the definition of
terrorism in the Law to require a direct link to violence,
but most of the country's 3,500 F-type inmates were convicted
before the amendments.


8. (C) Regulations allow F-type inmates to meet in groups of
10 for up to five hours a week. Our contact said that in
practice, however, this is not being implemented due to a
stand-off between administrators and inmates. Administrators
refuse to allow inmates to socialize in larger groups outside
their cells unless they participate in communal work
programs. F-type inmates have been boycotting the work
programs, arguing that they are willing to attend educational
programs or trade courses, but refuse to provide the State
with unskilled labor.


9. (C) Our contact said the two sides remain at a standstill
because the prison system lacks legitimate rehabilitation
programs. Instead, it offers only work programs in which
inmates produce shoes and other goods. Our contact advised
the GOT during the drafting of the new Execution of
Punishments Law, expected to be made effective in June. The
new law requires prisons to establish programs teaching
inmates a trade or occupation that would enable them to earn
a living after their release. However, our contact notes
that Parliament has not designated any resources to pay for
such programs, and he does not expect these provisions to be
implemented in the near future.


10. (C) Our contact said he suspects that guards in F-type
prisons occasionally beat problem inmates, but he has seen no
indication of systematic torture. Instead, he has noticed an
extreme "lock down" mentality among prison administrators.
F-type inmates spend very little time outside their cells,
where they even eat their meals. He said he has made little
headway in efforts to encourage Turkish prison authorities to
allow more inmate activity. Now that Turkey has abandoned
the out-of-control ward system, authorities are reluctant to
loosen the reins on inmates. Our contact said he took a
group of Turkish prison administrators to the UK, where they
were shocked to see inmates in a high-security prison
participating in activities in groups of up to 50.


11. (C) F-type prison authorities often punish problem
inmates by moving them to single-occupant cells for extended
periods. Our contact said this type of isolation does not
violate COE regulations, as long as a prison board authorizes
each punishment. But Turkish authorities appear to be meting
out such punishments without seeking board approval.

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Jandarma Not Trained for Prison Work
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12. (C) Our contact proposed a number of other amendments to
the law that the GOT declined. He recommended that the
Jandarma be relieved of their role in prison security in
favor of prison guards. Currently, Jandarma, paramilitary
forces under joint military and Interior Ministry control,
provide perimeter security for prisons. They also search
prison cells and transport prisoners to court and between
prisons. The problem, our contact said, is that Jandarma
officers are generally 18-21 years old and poorly trained.
They are armed and organized as soldiers and what training
they do have is not relevant for dealing with inmates. If a
problem arises during a cell search, Jandarma often "tear the
place apart," and then leave the prison staff to pick up the
pieces.


13. (C) GOT officials have flatly told our contact they do
not trust the prison guards and prefer to rely on Jandarma.
He agrees the guards are corrupt, but argues that the
solution is to develop a more professional guard force. The
GOT has begun steps in this direction, opening Turkey's first
prison guard academy in Ankara two years ago, followed by a
second in Istanbul one year ago. A third is scheduled to
open shortly in Erzurum. Before the opening of the Ankara
academy, our contact said, guards received no training
whatsoever, "They literally just handed you a baton and said,
'Go to work.'"

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Prison Doctors Lack Independence
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14. (C) The GOT also rejected our contact's proposal to place
prison doctors under Health Ministry authority. Prison
doctors are currently attached to the Justice Ministry, which
also runs the prison system. As a result, our contact said,
doctors have told him they are not willing to challenge
prison administrators on health issues for fear that it could
harm their careers. He said he was successful in convincing
the GOT to amend the law so that it will require inmates to
be examined by a doctor upon entry into prison.


15. (C) The draft Execution of Punishments Law will require
the establishment of psychiatric wards. Our contact said
that while this is positive in theory, he is skeptical about
how it will be implemented. If these wards are not properly
staffed and administered, they could create an opportunity
for abuse. Prison administrators could label problem inmates
"crazy," have the psychiatric ward rubber stamp their
declaration, and keep the inmates in isolation.

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Comment
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16. (C) Our contact's observations provide a rare glimpse
into the Turkish prison system. Consular officers visit
Amcit prisoners, but Americans, like other foreigners, are
consolidated into a few select facilities. On rare
occasions, the GOT takes other diplomats on staged tours of
high-security prisons. Our contact said Justice Ministry
officials started off taking him to "show prisons." But he
has insisted on visiting a different prison each time, and he
is now starting to learn what conditions are like for the
vast majority of inmates.


EDELMAN