Turkey: inmates suffering from COVID-19 unable to see doctor in Aksaray prison

Ahmet Göksu, who is jailed in Turkey’s central province of Aksaray, has told his family that inmates suffering from COVID-19 cannot access proper healthcare and are not taken to the hospital, the Mezopotamya news agency reported.

According to Göksu, there are critically ill prisoners among those who have contracted the virus in prison. The rapidly spreading COVID-19 had presented greater concerns in Turkey’s prisons, which were already notorious for human rights abuses, overcrowding and unsanitary conditions before the pandemic.

The purge of thousands of dissidents in the aftermath of a coup attempt in July 2016 has filled Turkey’s prisons, which today are overcrowded with tens of thousands of political prisoners.