Jail hunger strikers win concessions

Senay Hanoglu is on a hunger strike in support of her jailed husband

ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey's Justice Minister has announced concessions to try and end hunger strikes over the country's controversial new jails.

Hikmet Sami Turk said the government would try to rush through an amendment to the anti-terrorism law, scrapping some bans on inmates gathering in communal areas.

Twelve prisoners and two supporters have died since late March in protest against the new prisons which they say isolate inmates, making them vulnerable to abuse by guards.

The government claims that leftist, Kurdish and militant Islamic groups have been using prisons to recruit and train members.

Its new jails have cells, rather than the current dormitories, and there were to be strict controls on prisoners coming together even in jail libraries and sports halls.

Over 800 prisoners have so far joined the hunger strike or death fasts, drinking limited amount of sugared or salted water.

And the head of the Human Rights Association told Reuters news agency that with 80 of these people on the verge of death, the latest concessions were not enough.

"The amendment allows the use of communal areas by inmates who attend the training and rehabilitation programmes with obedience," he said. "The amendment in its present form does not end the isolation conditions."

Ondul argued that inmates might resist the training programmes as the new prisons were mainly home to those imprisoned for their political views.

"The state cannot force them to change their ideology. There'll be a resistance to that."

Ondul said the government must either expand courtyards where they are limited to three prisoners taking the air at a time, or leave cell doors open during the day to allow free contact among the Inmates.

"I had the impression from the inmates' families and lawyers that one of those steps will end the protest and save lives."

But Ondul did welcome plans to set up boards to monitor jail conditions and courts to hear complaints from prisoners.

And he said the hunger strike deaths had increased Western pressure on Turkey -- with improvements in human rights a precondition for any hopes to join the European Union.

Control of the country's prisons has been hard-fought with clashes between soldiers and prisoners resisting the transfers leaving 30 inmates and two soldiers dead last year.

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Turkish Ministry of Justice

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