US embassy cable - 05ANKARA2689

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 002689 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/10/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, TU, OSCE 
SUBJECT: COE EXPERT: TURKISH PRISONS RUN WITH "LOCK DOWN" 
MENTALITY 
 
Classified by Polcouns John Kunstadter; reasons 1.4 b and d. 
 
1. (C) Summary: A Council of Europe (COE) prison expert says 
the design of Turkey's high-security F-type prisons meets 
European standards, but some practices are draconian. 
Inmates are allowed very little time outside their cells. 
There is no evidence of systematic torture, but prison 
officials put problem inmates in isolation without seeking 
prison board approval.  Moreover, many prisoners in the 
F-type system are convicted of terrorism although their 
crimes involve non-violent speech.  A draft law will require 
prisons to establish education and training programs, but no 
money has been allocated for this purpose.  End Summary. 
 
2. (C) We met in April with a COE prison expert conducting a 
review of Turkey's prisons.  Our contact, a UK citizen and 
former prison director in Britain, is conducting a two-year 
study scheduled to end in 2006.  He has inspected 36 Turkish 
prisons to date and has made recommendations to the GOT on 
prison reform.  He shared with us his observations on the 
Turkish penal system. 
 
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The Truth About F-Type Prisons 
------------------------------ 
 
3. (U) The issue of Turkey's high-security F-type prisons is 
emotionally charged and highly politicized.  Until 2000, 
almost all Turkish prisons utilized a ward system, in which 
prisoners lived in open wards with 50 to 200 inmates. 
Prisoners convicted of terrorism and those who shared similar 
ideological views were often incarcerated together.  As a 
result, terrorist organizations effectively ran the wards, 
recruiting and intimidating inmates.  Prison authorities were 
reduced to maintaining perimeter security. 
 
4. (U) To address the situation, the Justice Ministry between 
December 2000 and January 2001 moved hundreds of prisoners 
charged with terrorism and organized crime into new, 
small-cell F-type prisons.  The F-type design resembles 
prisons in developed countries and is consistent with 
recommendations made to Turkey by the COE's Committee for the 
Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.  F-type cells hold 1-4 inmates and the prisons 
have open-air yards. 
 
5. (C) Human rights organizations and prisoners' groups claim 
that prison authorities isolate F-type inmates, torture them, 
and deny them access to water, food, electricity, and 
toilets.  A number of demonstrators have died during hunger 
strikes protesting the F-type prisons.  We cannot completely 
discount the allegations, but there is no evidence to support 
them.  Moreover, the prisoners' groups are closely linked to 
terrorist organizations such as the Kurdistan Workers Party 
(PKK) and Revolutionary People's Liberation Front (DHKP-C). 
We have occasionally met with representatives of the 
Association for Solidarity with the Families of the Arrestees 
and found them to be highly indoctrinated.  When pressed, 
they defend the use of violence against the Turkish State. 
 
6. (C) Our contact told us the F-type prisons are neither as 
repressive as critics claim nor as progressive as the GOT 
would have us believe.  Physically, they are first rate.  But 
some of the administrative practices are draconian.  Most 
F-type inmates are held in three-person cells.  Authorities 
sharply restrict their access to other prisoners and 
opportunity to exercise outside the cell.  These restrictions 
do not violate COE standards for terrorist inmates -- the 
rules provide wide latitude for the treatment of those 
convicted of terrorism (Note: For example, the European Court 
of Human Rights has ruled that PKK leader Ocalan's prison 
conditions as the sole inmate on Imrali Island are legal, 
though the Court has determined that he did not receive a 
fair trial. End Note). 
 
7. (C) However, our contact said, in other COE countries 
terrorist prisoners by definition have been convicted of 
direct links to terrorist violence.  In Turkey, many 
defendants convicted under the Anti-Terrorism Law were found 
guilty of non-violent speech deemed sympathetic to terrorist 
organizations.  In some cases, for example, defendants have 
been convicted of being PKK supporters for advocating 
education in Kurdish, which the PKK has demanded.  These 
types of prisoners are incarcerated in F-type prisons under 
the same conditions as violent militants.  As part of the EU 
reform process, the GOT has revised the definition of 
terrorism in the Law to require a direct link to violence, 
but most of the country's 3,500 F-type inmates were convicted 
before the amendments. 
 
8. (C) Regulations allow F-type inmates to meet in groups of 
10 for up to five hours a week.  Our contact said that in 
practice, however, this is not being implemented due to a 
stand-off between administrators and inmates.  Administrators 
refuse to allow inmates to socialize in larger groups outside 
their cells unless they participate in communal work 
programs.  F-type inmates have been boycotting the work 
programs, arguing that they are willing to attend educational 
programs or trade courses, but refuse to provide the State 
with unskilled labor. 
 
9. (C) Our contact said the two sides remain at a standstill 
because the prison system lacks legitimate rehabilitation 
programs.  Instead, it offers only work programs in which 
inmates produce shoes and other goods.  Our contact advised 
the GOT during the drafting of the new Execution of 
Punishments Law, expected to be made effective in June.  The 
new law requires prisons to establish programs teaching 
inmates a trade or occupation that would enable them to earn 
a living after their release.  However, our contact notes 
that Parliament has not designated any resources to pay for 
such programs, and he does not expect these provisions to be 
implemented in the near future. 
 
10. (C) Our contact said he suspects that guards in F-type 
prisons occasionally beat problem inmates, but he has seen no 
indication of systematic torture.  Instead, he has noticed an 
extreme "lock down" mentality among prison administrators. 
F-type inmates spend very little time outside their cells, 
where they even eat their meals.  He said he has made little 
headway in efforts to encourage Turkish prison authorities to 
allow more inmate activity.  Now that Turkey has abandoned 
the out-of-control ward system, authorities are reluctant to 
loosen the reins on inmates.  Our contact said he took a 
group of Turkish prison administrators to the UK, where they 
were shocked to see inmates in a high-security prison 
participating in activities in groups of up to 50. 
 
11. (C) F-type prison authorities often punish problem 
inmates by moving them to single-occupant cells for extended 
periods.  Our contact said this type of isolation does not 
violate COE regulations, as long as a prison board authorizes 
each punishment.  But Turkish authorities appear to be meting 
out such punishments without seeking board approval. 
 
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Jandarma Not Trained for Prison Work 
------------------------------------ 
 
12. (C) Our contact proposed a number of other amendments to 
the law that the GOT declined.  He recommended that the 
Jandarma be relieved of their role in prison security in 
favor of prison guards.  Currently, Jandarma, paramilitary 
forces under joint military and Interior Ministry control, 
provide perimeter security for prisons.  They also search 
prison cells and transport prisoners to court and between 
prisons.  The problem, our contact said, is that Jandarma 
officers are generally 18-21 years old and poorly trained. 
They are armed and organized as soldiers and what training 
they do have is not relevant for dealing with inmates.  If a 
problem arises during a cell search, Jandarma often "tear the 
place apart," and then leave the prison staff to pick up the 
pieces. 
 
13. (C) GOT officials have flatly told our contact they do 
not trust the prison guards and prefer to rely on Jandarma. 
He agrees the guards are corrupt, but argues that the 
solution is to develop a more professional guard force.  The 
GOT has begun steps in this direction, opening Turkey's first 
prison guard academy in Ankara two years ago, followed by a 
second in Istanbul one year ago.  A third is scheduled to 
open shortly in Erzurum.  Before the opening of the Ankara 
academy, our contact said, guards received no training 
whatsoever, "They literally just handed you a baton and said, 
'Go to work.'" 
 
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Prison Doctors Lack Independence 
-------------------------------- 
 
14. (C) The GOT also rejected our contact's proposal to place 
prison doctors under Health Ministry authority.  Prison 
doctors are currently attached to the Justice Ministry, which 
also runs the prison system.  As a result, our contact said, 
doctors have told him they are not willing to challenge 
prison administrators on health issues for fear that it could 
harm their careers.  He said he was successful in convincing 
the GOT to amend the law so that it will require inmates to 
be examined by a doctor upon entry into prison. 
 
15. (C) The draft Execution of Punishments Law will require 
the establishment of psychiatric wards.  Our contact said 
that while this is positive in theory, he is skeptical about 
how it will be implemented.  If these wards are not properly 
staffed and administered, they could create an opportunity 
for abuse.  Prison administrators could label problem inmates 
"crazy," have the psychiatric ward rubber stamp their 
declaration, and keep the inmates in isolation. 
 
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Comment 
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16. (C) Our contact's observations provide a rare glimpse 
into the Turkish prison system.  Consular officers visit 
Amcit prisoners, but Americans, like other foreigners, are 
consolidated into a few select facilities.  On rare 
occasions, the GOT takes other diplomats on staged tours of 
high-security prisons.  Our contact said Justice Ministry 
officials started off taking him to "show prisons."  But he 
has insisted on visiting a different prison each time, and he 
is now starting to learn what conditions are like for the 
vast majority of inmates. 
 
 
EDELMAN