The hunger strike of political prisoners protesting the harsh isolation conditions imposed in Pit-type prisons, facilities that have even surpassed the notorious F-type prisons in severity, continues.
Ali Hasan Akgül, one of the political prisoners recently released, issued an urgent appeal for Serkan Onur Yılmaz, who is at a critical stage of his hunger strike, demanding the transfer of his fellow inmates from the High-Security Pit-type Prison in Antalya to other facilities.
Akgül spoke to ANF and underscored the gravity of the situation with the words, “Serkan Onur Yılmaz could leave us at any moment,” and called for public awareness and solidarity.
The moment I set foot in Sincan No. 1 Pit-type Prison, the persecution began
Ali Hasan Akgül, who was arrested in Istanbul in December 2024 on the basis of a fabricated case, was held in the Marmara Prison in Silivri for one and a half months before being suddenly transferred one morning to the Sincan No. 1 High-Security Prison. This transfer marked his first encounter with a Pit-type facility. Akgül said that the persecution began the moment he stepped into the prison, describing how authorities immediately attempted to impose a strip search on him. He explained that, under normal circumstances, prisoners in these facilities are held in solitary confinement in single-person cells. However, despite a medical report stating that prisoner Ufuk Keskin was unfit for solitary confinement, the authorities placed three of them together in a single cell.
They forbid not only human faces, but everything natural!
Ali Hasan Akgül described the months they spent in a six-step-long cell, outlining the conditions as follows: “The architectural structure of Pit-type prisons is different from other prisons. The first difference is that they are built with three floors. The second is the absence of proper ventilation within the cells.
We were allowed just one and a half hours of fresh air per day. But even this ‘airing yard’ was a 7–8 step-long area at the very end of a corridor. The cells themselves were only six steps long, meaning there was virtually no room to move. As a result, we were forced to sit all day.
The third thing is that even seeing a human face is prohibited in these prisons. A simple example: even seeing the face of a guard is forbidden. In other prisons, a guard would come when you press a button, open the hatch, you explain your issue, and then they leave. But in Pit-type prisons, they have established what they call a Local Control Panel (LCP). Both the intercom system at the cell door and the camera inside the cell are connected to this central unit. If you need to report something or ask a question, you press the button and get connected to the guard at the LCP. You speak into the intercom, and then the guard responds through the system. Through the architecture of Pit-type prisons, they prohibit not just human contact but everything natural. For example, it is entirely possible to go an entire year without seeing sunlight. If the sun is not hitting the small yard during your designated airing hour in the summer, then in the winter it almost never does. So you end up spending the entire year without a single glimpse of the sun. If it rains during your scheduled time, maybe you get rained on once in a whole year. Snow? If you are lucky, you might see it once. And of course, you are watched 24/7 by surveillance cameras. When we tried to cover the cameras, they would immediately impose disciplinary punishments to strip us of the few rights we had left. In this way, they intensify the isolation even further.”
An isolation system built to separate humans from each other and from nature
Ali Hasan Akgül stated that the system in Pit-type prisons is built entirely around isolation, emphasizing that it is designed to separate individuals not only from other people but also from nature itself.
He explained that under such conditions, they held on to resistance in order to preserve their humanity and break the imposed isolation. Akgül said that they began their hunger strike to demand the transfer of his cellmate Ufuk Keskin, who suffers from celiac disease, and to be removed from the Pit-type prison himself. Both demands were met during the hunger strike, he said, and he was released on July 11, on the 149th day of the strike, during his first court hearing in eight months. Akgül, who is 1.85 meters tall, said his weight dropped from 69 to 49 kilograms. He noted that his medical treatment is ongoing at the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey and at Çapa Hospital.
Serkan Onur Yılmaz’s demand is reasonable and can easily be met
Ali Hasan Akgül said that his thoughts remain with the prisoners who are on indefinite hunger strike in Pit-type prisons, particularly highlighting that Serkan Onur Yılmaz’s condition has reached a critical stage.
Akgül explained that Yılmaz, who has been on indefinite hunger strike for 268 days demanding the transfer of his fellow prisoners to facilities other than Pit-type prisons, now attends visits in a wheelchair. He added that Yılmaz has begun to experience numbness in his hands and feet, has developed bedsores, and is struggling to sleep.
Akgül pointed to the worsening of Yılmaz’s physical condition as a sign that he may not have much time left and said: “Serkan Onur Yılmaz’s demand is entirely reasonable and easy to meet. He is asking for the transfer of eight fellow inmates he was previously imprisoned with, from the Pit-type facility in Antalya to other prisons. The prison administration, the prison prosecutor, and the Ministry of Justice are all capable of meeting this demand. Yet none of them, the administration, the prosecutor, nor the Ministry are taking steps to fulfill this very simple, very human request. Instead, they are waiting for Serkan and the other seven prisoners on hunger strike to become permanently disabled or to die.”
Fighting against Pit-type prisons is no longer a choice, it is a necessity
Ali Hasan Akgül underlined that the Ministry of Justice would be responsible for anything that might happen to Serkan Onur Yılmaz and issued a call to the public for urgent solidarity.
“Serkan Onur Yılmaz could leave us at any moment,” Akgül said and continued: “These Pit-type prisons are a threat to everyone. Today, students are arrested for the smallest act of protest, workers for going on strike, and retirees simply for speaking two sentences in a street interview. This means that tomorrow, anyone could find themselves inside a Pit-type prison. That is why we must not remain silent today. As I said, Pit-type prisons, through both their architectural design and the arbitrary practices of the prison staff are places of torture and destruction built to isolate people not only from one another but from everything natural. These prisons are used to eliminate anyone who thinks differently. They are like a modern version of concentration camps. These prisons were first introduced in the United States and later shut down due to the rise in suicides. Today, the Ministry of Justice in Turkey does not even disclose how many prisoners have died by suicide. We ask for the data, but they refuse to share it. There is something everyone can do to support the closure of Pit-type prisons. At the very least, people can raise their voices alongside those of the prisoners on hunger strike. Coming together under a common platform against Pit-type prisons and fundamentally, fighting to shut them down is no longer a matter of choice. It is a necessity. Because these prisons are waiting for all of us.”
Source: ANF News
