In Patnos Type L Prison, which has been on the agenda with the psychological and physical violence that prisoners have been subjected to in recent days, arbitrary practices and violations of rights continue unabated. After the 3 detainees who refused to stand during the count were beaten by the guards, the 5-day rotating hunger strike, which started on April 10, continues against the pressures and violations of rights in the prison.

 

CALL FOR AWARENESS FROM PRISONERS

 

Ersin Aslan, one of the prisoners, called for public awareness in his weekly phone call with his family on April 12. Stating that the guards in the prison act like a "gang", Aslan said, "We want the public to support us. They don't care if they kill us tomorrow. Every one must stand up with the prisoners."

 

THERE WAS PARTIAL IMPROVEMENT AFTER PUBLIC REACTIONS

 

Songül Demir, Aslan's older sister, who reacted to what happened, underlined that the society should raise their voices against the violations of rights in prison. Demir stated that as a result of the protests against the violations of rights in prison, they had some improvement.

 

'PRISONERS ARE NOT ALONE' 

 

Stating that the violations of rights in prisons sky rocketed in 2022, Demir said: "At the beginning of this year, I had a phone call with my brother. My brother said, "The guards took a female friend of ours and they beat her a lot in a place without a camera, they broke her arm." On April 12, my brother called us again and told us about another beating in prison.” Emphasizing that the society should not remain silent in the face of the violations of rights in prison, Demir made the following call: "We, as the society, should do all that we can to stop these violations. Enough is enogh. The prisoners are not alone. The violence in prisons will continue as we remain silent. The people in prisons are resisting and so should we. We should support the prisoners more."