Enhancing the Disciplinary and Reward Procedures for Prisoners in Türkiye

The Project on Enhancing the Disciplinary and Reward Procedures for Prisoners in Türkiye aimed to contribute to a safer society that provides full protection of the rights and dignity of persons deprived of their liberty. The main beneficiary was the Directorate General for Prisons and Detention Houses of the Ministry of Justice.

As such, the Project was expected to develop and ensure unified application of a standardised and efficient discipline and reward system that contributes to prisoners’ rehabilitation through numerous activities implemented under the following three components:

revising and strengthening the legislative framework governing the discipline and reward procedures for prisoners,
producing advanced tools to facilitate the unified application of discipline and rewards system in the country and,
enhancing the capacities of prison directors and staff, as well as other stakeholders involved in the execution of criminal sanctions, on the application of discipline and reward procedures.

The key standards in support to the actions undertaken with this Project were set in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) and its case law, European Prison Rules as well as the standards and recommendations of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT).

The project started on 01 November 2022 and ended on 31 October 2025, with an overall budget of 1.500.000 €. It was funded by the Council of Europe Human Rights Trust Fund, Norway, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Project documentation

Useful information

PROJECT NEWS

Back A complaint form for prisoners in Türkiye is being developed

Nino LAPACHI

Modified 2 Years ago.

@ Council of Europe

The first working group meeting for developing a template for a standardised complaint form and a data base was organised in Ankara on 1-2 April 2024 with the participation of representatives from the Ministry of Justice, the Ombudsman Institution, and Human Rights and Equality Institution. The meeting discussed how complaints are handled at penitentiary institutions at present and sought to agree on a draft template for the complaint form to be used in the disciplinary and reward mechanism in prisons.

Following the discussions among various professionals facilitated by Council of Europe consultants, the working group drafted templates for complaint, appeal and request forms to be used by prisoners. The draft templates will be further refined by the consultants; their potential for integration into UYAP system[1] will be discussed in a follow-up meeting in May 2024. It is expected that once the complaint and request forms are put in place, they will facilitate the implementation of the disciplinary and rewards system in a unified manner and in line with best practices from other Council of Europe member states.

This WG meeting was organised within the scope of the Project on "Enhancing the Disciplinary and Reward Procedures for Prisoners in Türkiye” co-funded by Norway, the Human Rights Trust Fund of the Council of Europe, Belgium, Türkiye, and the Netherlands.

[1] UYAP is a central information system that covers all the judicial institutions and other governmental departments, which have been equipped with computers and given access to all legislation, jurisprudence and judicial records.

Ankara, Türkiye 1-2 April 2024