Turkey Reassures Fasting Inmates Over Prison Reform Postponement
ANKARA (AFP) - Turkey's justice minister reassured inmates on Sunday that a controversial prison reform had been postponed, in an effort to avert the deaths of prisoners on hunger strikes in jails across the country.
Some 200 inmates have been fasting for almost 60 days against the planned opening of new prisons, where cells for three inmates at most will replace present dormitories housing up to 60 people.
Some 300 other prisoners and relatives have also been on hunger strike, but taking small amounts of water and sugar.
"The opening of the new prisons has been postponed. Our stance is very clear and there is no change in it," Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk told reporters.
Turk had first announced the postponement last week, but inmates said the decision was "insufficient".
Mediation efforts by human rights groups and intellectuals have also failed to persuade the inmates to end their protest.
The strikers, mainly from the extreme left, argue that the prison reform is aimed at isolating inmates, while Ankara says the changes do not amount to solitary confinement.
Turk asserted Sunday that the prison reform "will be re-evaluated in line with contemporary universal standards" through dialogue with professional associations.
The new jails will not be opened until legal amendments are passed to allow inmates to associate in recreational areas and to introduce civil supervision in prisons, he added.
"But there is absolutely no possibility of a return to the dormitory system," the minister stressed.
Ankara maintains that the overcrowded dormitories are the main reason behind the lax security in Turkish jails, which has opened the door for frequent riots and subsequent, often deadly, crackdowns by security forces.
Turk's statement came after he met with representatives of non-governmental groups, who asked him to repeat that the reform had been postponed to relieve the inmates' "lack of confidence" in the government.
