CİSST: Pandemic measures make the situation of imprisoned children even worse

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The Civil Society in the Penal System (CISST) has released a statement on the rights violations against and the impact of pandemic measures on prisoner children.

There are currently 1,584 children aged between 12 and 18 in Turkey's prisons, with 1,066 arrested and 518 convicted, the statement noted.

The children held in Turkey's prisons face heavier punishment and rights violations because the country's justice system includes regulations that do not consider the best interests of the child and the penal execution system is not structured in accordance with the needs of children, said the association.

"Reminding that our ultimate argument is the closure of children's prisons, it is necessary to determine the needs of the field, to work on the alternatives to imprisonment, and to actively implement the Child Protection Law for the children who are taken before the judiciary on criminal allegations as well.

"In the short term, it is necessary to take concrete steps to eliminate the rights violations experienced by children due to being imprisoned.

"Since March 2020, the conditions of detention of prisoners have entered a more severe process with administrative decisions and practices as part of the pandemic measures.

"... In Turkey's prisons, there are 1,584 children between the ages of 12 and 18, with 1,066 arrested and 518 convicted. Distanced from their families, schools and social development environments due to the nature of the execution system, prisoner children have remained further away from their rights to education, private life and family life, social development under pandemic conditions.

"The measures taken to take the coronavirus outbreak under control have become constant isolation in the practices of criminal execution and under these conditions, isolation has become as dangerous as the outbreak for children.

"While children kept in education centers are prevented from being kept in prisons with Covid-19 permission during the pandemic, judicial authorities that can rule for the release of arrested children ignore the outbreak risk and the children's trials while being arrested continue." (AÖ/VK)