A new prison reform bill introduced by Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has come under fire from opposition lawmakers, who say the proposal fails to address the plight of political prisoners and risks further eroding public trust in the judiciary, Turkish Minute reported.
Submitted to parliament on Thursday, the 30-article bill is part of the government’s broader 10th Judicial Reform Package and includes amendments to nine separate laws. The proposed legislation aims to reduce overcrowding and toughen enforcement, requiring actual prison time for sentences under two years in cases deemed to have caused public outrage.
The bill also expands eligibility for house arrest, particularly for women, elderly inmates and people with serious health conditions. According to AKP parliamentary group chair Abdullah Güler, approximately 19,800 inmates could benefit from provisions allowing conditional release for repeat offenders. An additional 1,500 to 2,000 prisoners may qualify for home detention on medical or humanitarian grounds.
The legislation would significantly extend the terms for house arrest: Prisoners over the age of 70 could serve up to four years at home, those over 75 up to five years and those over 80 up to six years. The limit for women, minors and inmates over 65 would increase from one year to three years.
The bill also calls for harsher penalties for the use of firearms in residential areas, expands rehabilitation measures for juvenile offenders and increases minimum sentences for offenses such as drunk driving and domestic violence-related assault.
Critics decry exclusion of political prisoners
Opposition parties have criticized the bill as inadequate and misleading. Özgür Özel, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said during a press briefing on Friday that the proposal had failed to meet public expectations, especially amid rumors that it could lead to the release of political detainees.
“The bill submitted to the committee has disappointed on multiple fronts,” Özel said, referring to earlier discussions with the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), which had sparked hopes of mass releases ahead of the upcoming Eid al-Adha holiday as part of peace-related overtures.
Following a historic May 12 announcement by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that it would lay down arms and disband after peace talks with its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan, hopes have risen for the release of people imprisoned for alleged PKK membership.
Özel warned that raising hopes among prisoners’ families without delivering on them is “traumatic” and criticized the government’s lack of transparency.
Sezai Temelli, deputy group chair for the DEM Party, was more blunt, saying during a live appearance on Halk TV that the legislation “delivered less than nothing.” He noted that expectations were especially high regarding the potential release of political prisoners, including Selahattin Demirtaş, the former co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the DEM Party’s predecessor.
CHP lawmaker Sezgin Tanrıkulu echoed the criticism in a post on X, accusing the government of stoking unrest by raising expectations it failed to meet. “Your sentencing reform proposal is causing public outrage,” he wrote, urging the AKP to revise the bill before the holiday or risk deepening public disillusionment.
Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç has defended the proposal as a step toward a more efficient penal system and stronger deterrence. However, opposition figures argue that the bill fails to address core issues, particularly the broad and widely criticized counterterrorism laws that have been used to criminalize dissent and suppress freedom of expression.
Overcrowding and political crackdowns add pressure
The bill is seen as an attempt to ease overcrowding in Turkey’s prison system. As of March, the country’s 395 correctional facilities housed 398,694 inmates, nearly 99,000 over their total capacity of 299,940, resulting in an occupancy rate of 133.9 percent. Between January and March alone, the prison population increased by more than 14,000, despite the closure of 10 smaller facilities.
Much of the surge has been fueled by ongoing political crackdowns. Arrests have followed protests over the jailing of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and continued operations targeting people affiliated with the faith-based Gülen movement.
The Turkish government accuses the Gülen movement of orchestrating a failed coup in July 2016, a claim the group strongly denies. Since the attempted coup, tens of thousands of alleged followers have been arrested or dismissed from public service in what critics call a systematic campaign of repression.
