The Adana Branch of the Human Rights Association (İHD) and the Adana Representation of the Lawyers for Freedom Association (ÖHD) published a report on rights violations in Adana prisons during July-September 2026. Based on interviews with prisoners at Suluca No. 1 High Security Prison, Suluca L-Type Prison and Kürkçüler F-Type Prison, the report highlighted compulsory oral searches, obstruction of access to treatment, severe isolation, ill-treatment, overcrowded wards and postponed releases. According to the report, at least 38 sick prisoners were unable to access health care because gendarmes insisted on oral searches. Disciplinary investigations were opened against prisoners who refused the searches. At Suluca High Security Prison, prisoners were reportedly held in cell isolation for up to 23 hours a day; one prisoner died by suicide and another injured himself. The report also documented racist insults and physical violence during hospital transfers, rejection of requests for air conditioning in summer, water cuts lasting up to four days, 65-80 people being held in wards designed for 24, surveillance of beds and bathing areas by cameras, restrictions on access to the newspapers Evrensel and Yeni Yaşam, and book quotas. ÖHD lawyer Serhat Ökmen called for sick prisoners to be released, compulsory oral searches and severe isolation to end, and the powers of execution boards to block releases to be limited.
16 October 2026
Evrensel