Record number of people behind bars in Turkey, data shows

[Petros Houhoulis]

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/record-number-of-people-behind-bars-in-turkey-data-shows-149532

• December 06 2019 14:49:11

Record number of people behind bars in Turkey, data shows

ISTANBUL – Demirören News Agency


The number and ratio of imprisoned people in Turkey have soared in recent years, data from the country’s statistical authority has shown.

The prison population across Turkey was 264,842 on Dec. 31, 2018, with an increase of 14 percent compared to the same date in 2017, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) said in a statement on Dec. 5.

“While the number of people in prison per 100,000 was 188 on Dec. 13, 2013, the figure on the same day reached 288 in 2017, and 323 in 2018 with a steady increase,” TÜİK said.
“Meanwhile, 401 of every 100,000 people over the age of 12 were placed in a prison at the end of 2018,” it added.
Second highest rate in OECD rankings
Turkey ranks second after the United States among 36 countries in terms of incarceration rate per 100,000 of national population, according to the latest OECD data.

The figure was recorded as 655 in the United States, 318 in Turkey, 234 in Israel, 231 in Chile and 214 in New Zealand, whereas the lowest figures were in Iceland with 37, Japan with 41, Finland with 51, Sweden with 59 and the Netherlands with 61.
Thieves make majority
Nearly 79 percent of Turkey’s prison population were in the status of convict, and the rest of them were under arrest, TÜİK also said.
The 96 percent of the prison population consisted of men.
The number of entrance records of convicts between Jan.1 and Dec. 31, 2018 was 266,889. The number of discharge record of convicts between the same dates was 215,170.
The number of jailed juveniles (12-17 age group) was 2,095 with an annual increase of about 2 percent. However, when the date of the committed crime was considered, the number of juvenile prisoners increased by 23 percent in a year, hitting 14,502.
When the major punishment was taken into account in cases of conviction over multiple crimes, 17 percent of the convicts behind bars were thieves. Assailants and drug dealers followed by 12 and 7 percent, respectively. Some 6 percent of the prison population was convicted of opposition to the Bankruptcy and Enforcement Law. Murderers made up nearly 4 percent of the convicts.

WHICH OF THE CANINE FORUM MEMBERS DESERVES TO GO TO JAIL? PLEASE SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS...

[Balthier]

You deserve to go to jail first and foremost, you are the caninest of them all after all

[asuvis]

Syrians?

[Teutone]

I think marmara that little piece of shit deserves jail

[The Lawspeaker]

Just lock 'em all up and throw-away the key !

[Petros Houhoulis]

https://www.turkishminute.com/2019/1...orism-charges/

Turkey arrests 2 more journalists on terrorism charges

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TM -


December 5, 2019

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Sadiye Eser and Sadık Topaloğlu, two reporters for the Mezopotamya news agency, have been arrested on terrorism charges, the agency reported.

The journalists were detained on Nov. 29 shortly after they left their office in the Beyoğlu district of İstanbul. They were referred to the İstanbul Courthouse to appear before a judge, where they were arrested on charges of membership in a terrorist organization on Tuesday.


Overseas trips made by the journalists and other cases previously filed against them were shown as the reasons for their imprisonment, while two denied the terrorism accusations and said they had merely performed their job as journalists.
Turkey, where more than 150 journalists and media workers are currently jailed, was ranked 157th among 180 countries in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index released in April by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The Turkish government increased its crackdown on critical journalists and media organizations in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt in July 2016 following which scores of journalists were imprisoned and dozens of media outlets were closed down by the government on the pretext of an anti-coup fight.

[Petros Houhoulis]

https://www.turkishminute.com/2019/1...in-parliament/

Erdoğan ally withdraws amnesty bill from consideration in parliament

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TM -


December 5, 2019

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Turkey's Nationalist Movement Party's (MHP) Leader Devlet Bahceli attends his party's group meeting at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) in Ankara, Turkey on October 16, 2018. AFP PHOTOS

Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), an ally of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), has decided to withdraw a bill granting amnesty to nearly 160,000 prisoners, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli said in a statement, Turkish media reported.

Bahçeli said they did not intend to contradict their ally, the AKP, according to the statement.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan publicly rejected amnesty for prisoners on several occasions before the MHP bill was introduced on Sept. 24.

Erdoğan said their intent was to grant amnesty only to convicts who had committed crimes against the state, underlining that perpetrators of crimes against individuals cannot receive amnesty.