2010 ilerleme raporu - Avrupa Birliği Bakanlığı

scheme from June 2009 to March 2010 and no legal counsel was appointed during that period
at Istanbul courts. There is evidence that a large number of prison inmates have never
received any legal aid or knew that they could benefit from the services of a legal counsel had
they requested one. There is no monitoring of implementation of the relevant legislation in
terms of either its coverage or the quality of services provided by legal aid lawyers. Hence,
there is no assessment of whether the funds available and fees charged are adequate. In
addition, there is no body, either independent or within the government, responsible for
monitoring this issue.
Overall, little progress has been made. Provision of legal aid is inadequate in terms of either
its coverage or the quality of services provided. There is no effective monitoring mechanism
that would ensure that problems are addressed.
The prison reform programme continued. The four training centres organised courses for
8249 prison staff in 2009 and an additional 4929 staff have been appointed.
Use of languages other than Turkish in prisons was extended. If the prisoner or his visitor
does not know Turkish, use of another language is allowed. The Law on enforcement courts
strengthens defendant's rights in case of the application of disciplinary sanctions against
prisoners.
The Ministry of Justice is developing a case management model to be brought into operation
for juveniles first and then extended to all prisons. This improves rehabilitation services.
Architectural changes to some high-security prisons enabled more communal activities to be
carried out. The Ministry of Justice has started to build juvenile prisons.
However, the high proportion of prisoners in pre-trial detention is still a significant problem.
Close to half of those imprisoned in Turkey are either awaiting trial or awaiting a final verdict
on their cases 14 . The situation is even more worrying as regards juveniles in penitentiaries.
Only 12% are serving prison sentences, the rest are awaiting trial.
The number of juvenile reformatories is insufficient. Children are not fully separated from
adults in all prisons. This is especially the case with girls, who are usually imprisoned with
women.
The inadequate resources of prisons continue to raise concerns. The rapid increase in the
number of inmates, which has doubled in a few years, led to a growing overcrowding
problem. The number of prison staff and their qualifications are still inadequate. There are
7981 vacancies.
The standards of monitoring of national prisons have not been improved to UN standards.
The inadequate health services for prisoners remain a concern. The protocol signed between
the Ministries of Justice and Health in April 2009 transferring responsibility for health care
services in prisons to the Ministry of Health has had limited impact. The number of
permanent physicians is insufficient.
14
Currently there are 119,145 people in prisons in Turkey, 56.557of whom have not yet been sentenced,
according to Ministry of Justice statistics.
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