The prisoners in Urfa No. 2 Type-T Closed Prison spoke to their family on the weekly phone call and reported the facts regarding COVID-19 process in their prisons.

 

One of these prisoners is Halit Yıldıztekin, who is a political prisoner. Yıldıztekin was the Co-Chair of Peoples's Democratic Party (HDP) Haliliye Region. The politican has been in prison for around 4 years now and he was sentenced to 11 years and 7 months of prison on charges of "being a member of a terrorist organization" because he was a member of Democratic Society Congress (DTK). Yıldıztekin already had diabetes before he was imprisoned and after the imprisonment he also came down with hypertension and prostate.

 

His daughter, Jiyan Yıldıztekin, spoke to our agency regarding the health condition of her father and his father information relayed by her father on the phone.

 

PRISONERS ARE COLLECTED IN ONE-WARD

 

Jiyan Yıldıztekin told that her father reported her that under the name of "the measures against the pandemic" many prisoners were collected now in one ward. Every night the temperature of the prisoners has been measured and their food has been left to the door of the ward, as Jiyan Yıldıztekin tells and she asks: "Can this solve the problem? I don't think he tells us all the details in order us not to worry to much."

 

SPECIAL POLICY ON POLITICAL PRISONERS

 

Jiyan Yıldız shared how she feels regarding the risk his father faces in prisons with the following words: "People stay home because of the pandemic threat, then the prisoners should not also be kept in prisons. There are many ways to release the even for a certain period of time, at least during the period until the pandemic is over and they can serve their sentence inside their homes with their families. We are worried that he is both sick and in prison. To keep the prisoners in one ward will bring critical health problems along with it. They have released many prisoners. But for us, they are applying 'a special policy'."

 

'HE HAD A CORONARY ANGIOGRAM LAST MONTH'

 

Jiyan Yıldıztekin also shared that her father got a coronary angiogram operation in the prison last month. As she states, they have filed appeals many time with the Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) for the release of their father based on the "release law of the sick and disabled prisoners", but they have never got no results in non of their attempts.

 

PRISONER BULUT: NO MEASURE

 

Prisoner Serhat Bulut reported the following information in the weekly phone call he made with his family: "Our friend, named Mahmut Kaya was taken to the hospital with 5 other prisoners. We have no information regarding their situation. There are many prisoners here with various health problems, cancer patients, lung patients as such. Non of them are medically treated. They can not even get the necessary medicine and pills. Another situation is that there is no measure taken throughout the prison against the pandemic. They just give as a mask when we go out the ward for the phone call, that's it."

 

THE PRISON OFFICIALS ARE NOT READY TO SHARE INFORMATION

 

The prison management we called to ask about the claims told on the phone that the prison official was not ready to share information on the phone.

 

 

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