Internship Report

Ulucanlar Cezavi

Group 8

Abdul Noor Wasay

Ali Jawaid

Hatim Khan

Omed Kani

Sabina Mehdipoor

Introduction

There are a myriad of prisons in Turkey with the purpose of secluding people through incarceration whom they deem are a threat to society. This paper, in particular, focuses on the prison named ‘Ulucanlar Cezaevi’ in Ankara and juxtaposes the living standards of the prisoners before 2003 to the standards of prisons after 2008 within Ankara. ‘Ulucanlar Cezaevi’ is of tremendous importance in terms of the noteworthy history that it possesses. This prison was built in 1925 and lasted for 81 years. The former times of this prison entail great reflection of the Turkish political life and hold a remarkable history. Ulucanlar Prison has left a mark on Turkish history with its celebrated detainees and in addition its executions. A large number of columnists and artists, along with several legislators and even filmmakers, served time in Ulucanlar Cezaevi. This Prison, where many prisoners stayed for a wide range of crimes, was changed entirely into a museum and presently manifests the art and culture. However, our study sheds light on how the life of prisoners has evolved over time. This paper reviews the sanitary conditions and whether they meet modern-day food and health standards. In addition to this, the difference between the accessibility of prisoners to proper healthcare for various ailments is also discussed. Moreover, some insight about the contrast between the legal rights provided to prisoners and the parameters of visitations in both times will also be examined.  Several other major aspects include the concern about prisoners’ rehabilitation facilities, their safety and security, education, and labor opportunities.  Most importantly, this paper incorporates an interview with a former prisoner, which effectively helps us make a comparison of the living standards of prisoners in both times.

Standards and conditions of “Ulucanlar cezavi”

To examine and evaluate the standards and conditions in ulucanlar cezaevi during the time it functioned as a prison we need to keep in mind that not all wards were exactly the same in nature. There were isolation wards that served as a “time-out” for those prisoners that posed  a threat to the others or those prisoners whose nature of crimes made it dangerous for them to be imprisoned with other prisoners, both for themselves and other occupants of the prison. Then there were wards that occupied more than one prisoner at a time. There were common wards where majority of the prisoners were being held and then there were the “hilton” wards where more public and well known personalities such as the prominant politician Bülent Ecevit, were kept.^[1] Keeping all this in mind it was sensible to pick the most important issues that were faced by majority of the prisoners in ulucanlar.

Sanitation and Hygiene

We know for a fact that Ulucanlar cezaevi had a tarnished reputation when it came to hygiene and sanitation. Just the tour of the museum is enough to show you the lack of sanitation that all prisoners were exposed to. For instance, the sight of mice living beside the occupants of the cells elaborates the level of unhygienic conditions that prisoners had to endure. ^[2][pic 1]

 From the words of the prison wardon, Vehbi Camgöz,  we are able to confirm that the lack of conditions depicted in the museum of inmates that were incarsanated behind bars in ulucanlar cezavi are actually true. As a mater of fact they might have even been worse during some portion of the time during which it was active as a prison. Camgöz, who served as a wardon for 5 terms around 1980’s exposes the horrific reality that the prison that was built to occupy only 600 prisoners was actually incarsarating around 2000-2500 prisoners. He further adds that since the facility was not designed to occupy this many prisoners in the first place, it caused many problems such as ; more than 3 prisoners were for forced to use a single bed and naturally the wards were filled with revolting and unbearable smell that made ones head hurt. In his own words, “this was sort of an extra penalty” on the occupants of the prison.^[3] Taking shower was not possible as approximately 2000 prisoners used to be in ulucanlar cezavi at a given time and they were therefore forced to purchase a tin of boiling water that cost them 10TL and they used this to clean themselves up.^[4] The prisoners were also not provided with seperate towels but had to share the ones available, there were also wooden slippers that were shared by prisoners while using the toilets.^[5][pic 2]

[pic 3]

Healthcare

The records from TBMM report shows that ulucanlar cezaevi had a healthcare facility that was capable of dealing with apporximately forty patients at a given time.^[6] This is where sick prisoners were taken and given medical attention, however we know that there were a lot more prisoners occupying the prison than just 600 prisoners that it was designed for, so a lack of proper healthcare for all was a problem at certain periods of times. The prisoners on deathrow were also given medical attention as was the law turkey when death penalties was a legal punishment. They were provided with medical check ups to make sure they were physically and mentally healthy before their execution on the gallows. The execution of Adnan Mandaras is a good example, he was given medical attention by six different doctors before they drew up a final report on his health prior to his execution. [pic 4]

Guard and prisoner relationship.

The relationship between the guards and prisoners is an important part of life in any prison, and therefore has to be managed professionally to prevent the abuse of any prisoner. Nevertheless, countless reports of abuse of prisoners by guards had been reported from ulucanlar cezaevi. The relationship between prisoners and guards in ulucanlar was usually a tensed one that resulted in death of numerous prisoners. In the september of 1999, the harsh living conditions that the prisoners had to face sparked a  riot that ended in the death of 10 prisoners while left 28 injured, some of them with serious injuries.^[7] It is therefore no mystery that while walking down the cold and dark corridors of the museum, you can hear the cries and screams of the prisoners in a loop, pleading the guards to stop beating them. Camgöz who witnessed this unprofessionalism on part of the guards, says that the guards given the job at ulucanlar cezaevi were tuff looking by appearance and were not trained guards. The sole reason they were hired was to beat the prisoners and keep them in check, he also recalls an incident where the guards beat the prisoners with sticks.