A total of 67 representatives of different civil monitoring boards (CMB) in Turkey provided input to the draft prison monitoring toolkit through their participation and discussion during the first informative meeting on the new CMBs’ monitoring standards and tools.
This meeting was organised online on 15 April 2021, with an aim to familiarise CMB members with the new prison monitoring methodology, checklists, reporting template and to inform them on the relevant international standards, with an aim to establish a uniformed prison monitoring approach across the country. Once put in practice, this toolkit will assist the CMBs in assessing the compliance of prison conditions and treatment vis-a-vis the international standards and the national legislation.
As a result of the fruitful discussions, the CMBs agreed that the toolkit will bring added value to the prison monitoring process, which will provide prison authorities with tailor-made recommendations leading towards improved treatment and more successful rehabilitation of prisoners in Turkey. Additionally, the consultants and the project staff presented some good practices from different European countries on prison monitoring during COVID-19 outbreak, while the CMBs shared their experiences in terms of conducting visits to prisons during the pandemic.
The toolkit will continue to be introduced to CMBs by means of a further seven informative meetings, followed by piloting phase in different prisons in eight regions of Turkey; thus, testing its applicability in practice.
The meeting was held within the Project entitled “Enhancing the Effectiveness of the Civil Monitoring Boards in Turkey in line with the European Standards” funded by Sweden, Switzerland, the Republic of Turkey, the Human Rights Trust Fund of the Council of Europe and Canada.
