#Prison System

The release of political prisoners is not a legal concession but a necessary foundation for real peace and justice. This article analyzes how Turkey’s penal policies—particularly under the AKP—systematically exclude political prisoners through covert amnesties and discriminatory practices. Drawing on recent legal reforms, official data, and institutional cases, it challenges the legitimacy of current penal execution practices and frames equality before the law as a litmus test for democratic normalization.

This article examines the expansion and transformation of Turkey’s prison system under the rule of the AKP government, with a particular focus on the emergence of large-scale “campus prisons.” It analyzes the political logic behind mass incarceration, the spread of solitary confinement practices, and the construction of high-security facilities. Framing imprisonment as a tool of social control and political repression, the article situates recent prison policies within the broader dynamics of authoritarianism and criminalization in contemporary Turkey.