The main objectives of the 2021 visit were to examine the treatment and conditions afforded to persons deprived of their liberty by law-enforcement agencies and to persons held in prison establishments. The CPT visited thirteen police and gendarmerie facilities, including the police headquarters and anti-terror departments in Ankara, Diyarbakır and Istanbul. It also visited eight prisons, including two women’s prisons in Istanbul-Bakırköy and Kayseri, a Juvenile Prison in Istanbul-Maltepe, and a High-Security Prison in Diyarbakır. At the time of the visit, specific Covid-19 measures were in place and the delegation was able to evaluate the impact of such measures on prisoners and staff alike.

Following up on the findings of the 2021 visit, the 2024 ad hoc visit focused on the treatment of persons held in high-security prisons, including as regards persons sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment. It also examined the situation of women and LGBT+ persons in prison, and that of prisoners placed in single cells for administrative or disciplinary reasons. To this end, the CPT visited four high-security prisons in Antalya, Iğdır and Van, and two L-type prisons in Antalya and Istanbul-Maltepe.

Both reports address the continuing challenge of prison overcrowding amid significant changes in the size of the prison population.

At the time of the periodic visit of January 2021, the CPT noted that the prison population had fallen substantially, from approximately 290 000 at the end of 2019 to around 192 000. Despite this decrease, overcrowding was evident in most of the prisons visited.

By the time of the ad hoc visit three years later, that downward trend had been reversed. According to official statistics, the prison population had reached approximately 338 000 in June 2024, corresponding to an incarceration rate of around 395 prisoners per 100 000 inhabitants, which was significantly higher than any other Council of Europe member state.

The CPT called on the Turkish authorities to give the highest priority to curbing this growth and addressing overcrowding at its roots.

The main findings and conclusions of the CPT are set out in the executive summaries of the two reports.

In their responses, the Turkish authorities provide detailed information on the measures taken or envisaged to implement the CPT’s recommendations. The Committee is pursuing its dialogue with the Turkish authorities on the issues raised in the reports.

The CPT reports and the responses of the Turkish authorities have been made public at the request of the Turkish Government.