Prisoners with Special Needs Project Final Report

Eser Adı: Prisoners with Special Needs Project Final Report

Yazar: Mustafa Eren

Yayınevi: CİSST

Basım Tarihi: Kasım 2013

Sayfa Sayısı: 20

The Prisoners with Special Needs Project began in November 2012, lasted a full year, and ended on November 2013.

This project, dealing with prisoners with disabilities, LGBT prisoners, foreign national prisoners, and elderly prisoners, aims to make their conditions clear, to identify problems, and design solutions for these problems. Furthermore, it aimed at raising awareness within the relevant non- governmental organizations, and make them execute activities regarding prisons. The third and final goal of the project was to create documents relating to prisoners with special needs at the end of the project, and to bring these documents to the public’s attention as well as to present it to the lawmakers, coordinators and directors of the prisons in order to make improvements in the prisoners’ lives.

In order to achieve these aims, the project was carried out in three stages. In the first phase; meetings were arranged with non-governmental organizations working in the area of prisoners with disabilities, LGBT prisoners, foreign prisoners and elderly prisoners.  The issues regarding prisons and prisoners provided were included in the agenda of these civil society organizations and the first step was taken in order to facilitate the next stages of the project. In the second stage of the project; three prisons in Istanbul were visited with the attendance of representatives of these civil society organizations. The Ministry refused to allow prisoners to be interviewed during these visits but the living areas of the prisoners were seen and information was received by the prison authorities. In the third stage of the project, the information obtained from the beginning of the project was identified and evaluated with the contribution of civil society organizations.

Te general findings reached in the aftermath of the three stages of the project were:

1. It was seen during the project that The Ministry of Justice and General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Houses did not have a policy for prisoners with special needs. (The Ministry’s first study on this issue arose after we started the project and shared information with the public.)

2. The Ministry and General Directorate lack statistical data that should be obtained in order to create a policy for prisoners with special needs. In particular, statistics on prisoners with disabilities and LGBT prisoners began recently and because of its criteria could not be included; it is not reliable to make an assessment yet.

3. Statistical deficiencies in the data also show that the Ministry and the General Directorate have not got an accumulation of knowledge and experience for prisoners with special needs.

4. There is no staff recruitment regarding the subject. Tere is no staff recruitment within the Ministry and the Directorate General, with respect to prisoners with special needs; as well as no staffing within the prisons and also existing staff are not entered into a study for specialization in this regard.

5. The applications and the permissions that were obtained suggest that the Ministry and the General Directorate have drawbacks regarding NGOs becoming an actor associated with prisons.