Turkey stops testing prisoners for Covid-19 in notorious Silivri prison

Prisoners showing Covid-19 symptoms in Turkey’s notorious Silivri Prison Campus were stopped being tested under the instructions of the Ministry of Health, according to the Mezopotamya News Agency that reported on an inmate’s phone call to his family.

According to the Mezopotamya, Mehmet Sarı, imprisoned in the prison number 7, claimed that a prison doctor had given this information to them.

Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread in Turkey’s prisons quickly. The number of detainees tested positive is increasing day by day. One of the hot bed of Covid-19 pandemic is Silivri Prison which houses some 23,000 inmates.

According to the information the Mezopotamya received through prisoners incarcarated in Silivri prisons number 7 and 8 a total of 55 and 80 prisoners were infected with the virus, respectively. The prisoners who were infected with the the Covid-19 pandemic are staying in overcrowded wards together with uninfected prisoners.

The rights violations increased after the outbreak of the pandemic in both prisons, the prisoners are malnourished, the canteen shopping is stopped, and some sick prisoners could not be sent to hospital, the Mezopotamya reported.

Mehmet Sarı, one of the detainees who stayed in the prison number 7, told his wife about the situation in the prison in telephone conversation. According to the sound record of this conversation shared on social media, prisoners who were tested positive and negative were mixed together to create herd immunity.

Sarı further alleged that prisoners who showed pandemic symptoms were ceased to be tested. According to Sarı he and his ward mates carry all symptoms of the Covid-19, and when they informed the prison doctor of the situation he shows no interest saying that there is nothing they can do about it.

When they requested to be tested, the health personnel and doctors rejected them saying the Ministry of Health instructed them not to carry out tests anyone, Sarı claimed. Sharing what a prison doctor told them Sarı said, “in a meeting with a team that came from the Ministry of Heatlh they decided to make no tests anymore, after making tests in B-10 and B-12 wards that resulted in 31 and 24 positive cases, respectively. This number is more than 44 which was announced by the prosecutor’s office. So they decided to make no more tests. If somebody’s situtaion gets worsened then he can be tested. Otherwise the Ministry does not want any more tests.”

Sarı further claims that all inmates in B-10, B-12 and B-7 are ill showing the symptoms of Covid-19 and that 19 prison guards were infected. 3 of them were hospitalized.

According to the Mezopotamya, the prison authorities with which they contacted confirmed that there are infections, yet did not provide information about the number. The officials, claiming that the situation is under control said, “the necessary measures are taken and that the prisoners who were infected with the pandemic were tested and put under treatment,” the Mezopotamya quoted.

In a move to curb the Coronavirus pandemic’s spread to the country’s overcrowded prisons, the Turkish government has enacted a bill on April 15 that provided early parole and house arrest possibilities to prison inmates, yet excluded political prisoners such as politicians, journalists, lawyers, academics and human right defenders convicted on country’s controversial and broadly interpreted counter-terrorism laws.

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from SCF