TurkStat: Turkey's prison population exceeds 291,000

Photo: Ministry of Justice

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Turkey's prison population stood at 291,546 as of the end of 2019, with a 10.1-percent from the previous year, according to the Turkish Statistical Institution (TurkStat) figures.

84.1 percent of the prison population was convicts while 15.9 percent were remanded in custody, according to the figures. 96.1 percent of the prison population were men and 3.9 percent of them were women.

While 163 people per 100,000 population were in prison in Turkey in 2010, it increased to 323 in 2018 and 351 in 2019 by increasing every year.

While the number of juveniles (12-17 age group) was 1,679 according to the age at the time of received into prison with a decrease of 19.9 percent compared to the previous year, it is 13,015 according to the age at the time of committed crime with a decrease of 10.3 percent compared to the previous year.

When every entrance record of a convict entered into prison more than once within the same year considered different, the number of entrance records of convicts was 281,605.

When every discharge record of a convict discharged from prison more than once within the same year considered different, the number of discharge records of convicts between the same dates was 291,212. 96.0 percent of convicts received and 96.2 percent of convicts discharged were males.

In the case of convicts received into prison committed more than one crime, one of the crimes resulted in major punishment was taken as the main crime. In this context, 15.2 percent of convicts committed theft, 12.4 percent of them committed assault, 7.0 percent of them committed production and commerce of drugs, 5.4 percent of them committed opposition to the Bankruptcy and Enforcement Law and 3.4 percent of them committed homicide.

Education status

As for the education status of convicts received into prison, 42 percent of the convicts who committed theft was graduated from junior high school and vocational school at junior high school level education, 20.1 percent of them were graduated from primary education school, 14.7 percent of them were graduated from high school and vocational school at high school level school.

The 27.6 percent of convicts committed assault were graduated from junior high school and vocational school at junior high school level education, 24.7 percent of them were graduated from high school and vocational school at high school level school and 23.5 percent of them were graduated from primary education school.

The 33.5 percent of convicts committed production and commerce of drugs were graduated from junior high school and vocational school at junior high school level education, 21.8 percent of them were graduated from high school and vocational school at high school level and 17.5 percent of them were graduated from primary education school.

The 30.3 percent of convicts committed homicide were graduated from junior high school and vocational school at junior high school level education, 28.7 percent of them were high school and vocational school at high school level education, 15.8 percent of them were graduated from primary school.

The 30.7 percent of convicts committed sexual crimes were graduated from junior high school and vocational school at junior high school education, 23.5 percent of them were graduated from high school and vocational school at high school level and 19.5 percent of them were graduated from primary education school.

When convicts received into prison was examined by education and the sequence of committed crimes, for 29.7 percent of those who were literate but not graduated from a school, 24.1 percent of those who were illiterate, 21.2 percent of junior high school and vocational school graduates and 15.6 percent of those who were primary education school graduates the theft was the first order; the assault was the first order for the high school and vocational high school graduates with 13.5 percent, for the primary school graduates with the 13.0 percent and for the higher education graduates with 8.1 percent. (HA/VK)