Turkey’s prison population has reached 428,267, exceeding official capacity by 40 percent, according to a recent report of the Civil Society in the Penal System (CISST).
Data from November 3 show that nearly 8,000 people were added to the prison population in the span of a single month. The country’s 402 prisons have a capacity of 304,886.
The report also noted a rise in the number of minors aged 12 to 18 held in juvenile correctional facilities and the juvenile units of adult prisons, which has reached 4,682, including 194 young women. A total of 822 children under the age of 6 are living with their mothers in prison.
Turkey was by far the leader in the number of prisoners in Europe, according a 2023 report released by the Council of Europe. The country witnessed a 439 percent surge in its prison population between 2005 and 2023, surpassing all other European countries in terms of the rate of increase.
In response to this growth, the Turkish government continues to expand the prison system. Six new prisons are expected to open in the next three months, followed by nine in 2026, five in 2027 and two in 2028. With these 22 new facilities, the total number of prisons in Turkey will reach 424 by the end of 2028.
Mass detentions and arrests have been taking place as part of a crackdown on the faith-based Gülen movement in Turkey since a coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since corruption investigations in December 2013 implicated him as well as some members of his family and inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and a conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan began to target the movement’s members. He designated the movement as a terrorist organization in May 2016 and intensified the crackdown on it following an abortive putsch in July of the same year that he accused Gülen of masterminding. The movement strongly denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
Founded in 2006 in İstanbul, CISST advocates for the protection of prisoners’ rights and freedoms. The organization is dedicated to ensuring that prison conditions, practices and policies in Turkey uphold human dignity and adhere to universal human rights standards.
