VAN- A prisoner in Van T Type Prison, stated that they were exposed to the violence by the prison guards who were called themselves as “Team A” and the prisoner called for public opinion to be sensitive on the increasing human rights violations in the prisons.
In the weekly phone call with his family, Ayhan Yılmaz, a prisoner in Van T Type Closed Prison, reported the violations of rights they were exposed to. Stating that they are exposed to the violence of the guards each and every day, Yılmaz said that they do not have "safety of life" within the prison walls.
Yılmaz pointed out that there is a lack of protective and hygene materials in the prison for the prisoners to save themselves from the coronavirus pandemic. Prisoner Yılmaz made the following statement in the phone call:
"The attacks of the guards, who call themselves 'Team A' never stops. On one hand there is the prison administration, on the other hand there is the coronavirus outbreak. Many of our friends got hospitalized due to guardian violence which has started since April 3. They took away our radios and our books. They try to use the coronavirus process as an advantage for themselves to create more oppression for the prisoners. They try to make a count every day, forcing us to stand up. As we reject this policy, they write down penalties. As we are not able to have any visitors due to the coronavirus, we have two telephone calls each week, this is so that the families and the prisoners can inform each other on their health. However the prison management steals one phone call arbitrarly and we can only call our families once a week. There are many prisoners, who has chronical diseases, so are in great risk. However, they are not medically taken care of. The measures taken against coronavirus pandemic in the prison is not just inadequate, but also we lack of hygiene materials and disinfectants".