Shining a Light on the Reality of Prisons in Turkey

• Overview of 'Prison Agenda' (Gündem Hapishane), an independent initiative documenting human rights in Turkish prisons.
• The project focuses on translating fragmented, technical data into accessible formats to shed light on systemic issues.
• The mission is to humanize statistics by highlighting vulnerable groups often overlooked in public discourse.

Origin and Mission

• Launched in January 2026 by Ahmet Kavruk and Tutku Sönmez following debates over the 11th Judicial Package.
• Aims to move beyond high-profile political cases to cover the experiences of hundreds of thousands of invisible inmates.
• Utilizes a 'rights-based translation' approach to make publicly available but obscure information understandable.

Core Activities

• Monthly synthesis of data from official statistics, parliamentary records, Council of Europe reports, and EuroPris.
• Production of three distinct regular publications:
  • The News Bulletin: Updates on key prison-related developments.
  • The Data Bulletin: Analysis of trends using infographics and visualizations.
  • The Parliamentary Monitoring Bulletin: Tracking relevant legislation in the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye.
• Thematic reporting aligned with international awareness days, focusing on specific vulnerable populations.

Focus on Vulnerable Groups

• The project prioritizes groups often missing from official reports:
  • Children residing in prisons with their mothers.
  • Foreign nationals facing language barriers to legal justice.
  • Women excluded from social activities due to staffing shortages.
  • Elderly and disabled prisoners struggling for medical access.

Challenges and Future Goals

• Operates under a difficult political climate with limited access to closed institutional data and financial constraints.
• Success is measured by the growth of a subscriber base including journalists, researchers, and civil society actors.
• Future plans include strengthening English-language publications to better integrate Turkish civil society into international human rights networks.