“Some of us only wish for a cup of tea.”
Source: “Hücre cezası uygulanan eşcinsel: Ceza içinde ceza yatmak beni çok yıpratıyor” (“Gay inmate: It wears me down to be penalized on top of my sentence”), T24, 1 December 2015, http://t24.com.tr/haber/hucre-cezasi-uygulanan-escinsel-ceza-icinde-ceza-yatmak-beni-cok-yipratiyor,318524
14 LGBTI inmates in Alanya L-Type Closed Prison are serving time in solitary cells – a practice that only applies to convicts sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment – and are denied a special ward despite their numbers. Lawyers affiliated with the Alanya Board of Women’s Rights say, “The convicts are held in confinement 23 hours a day and are let out for fresh air for only an hour.” The convicts reported on their situation in letters that they sent to non-governmental organizations:
“I feel suffocated. It wears me down to be in a situation I did not deserve and to be penalized on top of my sentence. … I am only allowed to get fresh air in the yard for an hour a day as if I am sentenced to solitary confinement. If I were, it would not feel this horrible.”
“There are 15-20 of us here with reports that identify us as gays. But they don’t open a ward for us. We are serving our time like our friends who are sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment. The well-off ones among us have things like a TV, a fridge, or an electric teapot. Others don’t have anything and only wish for a cup of tea. If there was a ward and we all lived there, we would at least have an environment to share things among us.”
“They only let us out for an hour a day and they let us out one by one. I can’t sit down and have a conversation with any one of my gay friends. You could guess that we are already ostracized by our families because we’re gay. Our mental state is already off. We need to support each other at times like these, but we’re further banished by the government instead.”
Turkey had been convicted
Turkey was convicted by the European Court of Human Rights as a result of a lawsuit known as “X v. Turkey” about a gay individual who was confined to a solitary cell for 8 months. It is also against Turkish law to confine an inmate to a solitary cell without a sentence to that effect.
“The capacity is much higher [than stated]”
During the lawyers’ visit, prison director Ali Şeref Gül reportedly said, “The prison has a capacity of 480 inmates, though it currently holds more than 1600 convicts and detainees. So it is difficult to assign a special ward for people suffering from homosexuality.”
The capacity of the prison is stated as 1820 inmates on the website of the Ministry of Justice. The prison authorities that we were able to reach stated that the capacity is higher than 1820 inmates.
Several NGOs are collecting signatures for a petition to lift the solitary confinement penalty on gay inmates and vowed to follow up with the petition. The following is a list of the NGOs behind the petition:
Afyon LGBTİ Kuruluşu
Akdeniz Pembe Caretta LGBTQ
Bilgi Gökkuşağı
Boğaziçi Üniversitesi LGBTİ Çalışmaları Kulübü (BÜLGBTİ)
Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Sosyal Hizmet Kulübü (BUSOS)
Bursa Özgür Renkler LGBTİ
Ceza İnfaz Sisteminde Sivil Toplum Derneği (CİSST)
Cinsel Şiddetle Mücadele Derneği
Çağdaş Hukukçular Derneği İstanbul Şubesi
Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Eşit Şerit Topluğu
Edirne LGBTİ Çalışma Grubu
Erktolia
Erzincan Katre Kadın Oluşumu
Flu Baykuş
Görülmüştür
Hebun LGBT Diyarbakır
Hevi LGBTİ
İnsan Hakları Derneği Genel Merkez
İnsan Hakları Derneği İstanbul Şubesi
İnsan Hakları Derneği Sakarya Şubesi
İstanbul LGBTİ Dayanışma Derneği
İzmir LGBTİ İnisiyatifi
Kaos GL
KESK Kadın Meclisi
Keskesor LGBTİ Diyarbakır Oluşumu
Kırmızı Şemsiye Cinsel Sağlık ve İnsan Hakları Derneği
Lambda İstanbul Derneği
LGBTİ Aileleri ve Yakınları Derneği (LİSTAG)
Liseli LGBTİ
Mahsus Mahal
Malatya Gökkuşağı LGBTİ İnisiyatifi
Mersin 7 Renk LGBTİ Derneği
Moira Kadın Dayanışma Derneği
MorEL LGBTİ
Muş Kadın Derneği (Mukadder)
Özgürlükçü Hukukçular Derneği
Pembe Hayat LGBTT Dayanışma Derneği
Pozitif Yaşam Derneği
Sınır Tanımayan Kadınlar / Göçmen Kadınlarla Dayanışma Grubu
Siyah Pembe Üçgen İzmir
Sosyal Politikalar Cinsiyet Kimliği ve Cinsel Yönelim Çalışmaları Derneği (SPoD)
T-Klüp
Toplumsal Dayanışma İçin Psikologlar Derneği
Toplumsal Haklar ve Araştırmalar Derneği
Trabzon Mor Balık LGBT
Yeni Demokrat Kadın
Yoğurtçu Kadın Forumu
Queer Documentaries