İSTANBUL - The only measure taken by the Adana Kürkçüler Prison administration turned out to be distributing one latex glove and one surgical mask per month. 

 

In Turkey where measures taken against the coronavirus being inadequate is discussed a lot, one of the places people are worried about is the overcrowded prisons, holding more than 300 thousand people. While the reactions against the new regulation on execution that excludes the political prisoners continues, the so called measures taken by the Adana Kürkçüler Type F Prison administration shows the gravity of the situation.

 

The prison administration distributed one latex glove and one surgical mask per prisoner as a 'protection' to use during a month. A prisoner Mehmet Zahit Şahin, told about the situation in prison with the epidemic to his sister Tayibe Şahin. 

 

Şahin explained what her brother told him and said: "They distributed one glove (not a pair) and one mask to the prisoners. It's been almost a month and no other measures were taken. We haven't been allowed in the yard for a month now. This makes it easier for us to be sick. We can not access hygiene materials, even with our own money. The prices of our basic needs have tripled after the outbreak. We are not doing well here. It will be a disaster when the virus is finally here. Our phonecall right, which was twice a week, is now reduced to one phonecall." 

 

 

'WE ARE WORRIED'

 

Stating that his brother has chronic asthma and herniated disc, Şahin said that during such a period when the epidemic has become very serious, the authorities should urgently do something with a sense of responsibility. Noting that thousands of people have been exposed to the outbreak despite the measures taken, the sister Şahin stated that the prisons do not have this opportunity and said, “Because the conditions of the prisons are very bad, it is very likely that our relatives will be exposed to the epidemic. This is a death sentence for those who are in prison. These people are locked in there for their thoughts and their races. Now they are facing a massacre for their thoughts and their races. We are concerned as their families."

 

Şahin adressed the authorities, pointing out that the government should take action for the prisons, made a call and demanded immediate evacuation of the prisons."

 

 

MA / Naci Kaya