Ministry of Justice Sadullah Ergin said that there are 2,725 children in jails as of 31 July 2009.
The answer given by Ministry of Justice Sadullah Ergin to the question given by BDP Şırnak Parliamentarian Sevahir Bayındır set forth the fact that there are 2 thousand 725 children in total in jails as of 31 July 2009. Ergin said that 946 of these children who are at detention facility are arrested, 460 are arrested by decision, and 319 are sentenced.
According to information given by Minister Ergin, Istanbul is the first with 511 children, Izmir is second with 270 children and Adana is third with 260 children at detention facilities. There are 109 children in jail in Diyarbakır.
Minister of Justice Sadullah Ergin answered BDP Şırnak Parliamentarian Sevahir Bayındır’s question about children in jails. Telling that as of July 31, 2009 there are 2,725 children in jails in total out of which 946 children are arrested, 460 arrested by decision and 319 sentenced, Minister Ergin further explained that these children are being accommodated predominantly at children education houses and children closed detention facilities as well as closed prisons A, A2, A3, B, C, D, C, H, K1, K2 which have directorate organizations, prisons for women, and L, M, T-type prisons. Stating that psycho-social support services are given in the detention facilities by psychiatrists and social aid specialists to solve psychiatric and social problems of children, Minister Ergin said “Considering their individual characteristics, children are being supported by specialists from psycho-social aid service who are increasing awareness of children about their conditions and trying to develop alternative solutions for them.”
Diyarbakır is first
Minister Ergin, who gave information about cases filed at Criminal Courts under Anti-Terror Law Nr. 3713 and number of accused as well as cases filed at Children High Criminal Courts under Code of Criminal Procedure 250 and Anti-Terror Law and the number of accused, said that total number of cases filed at criminal courts in 2008 was 2,754, and the number of accused who are being tried was 6,851. The “number of cases opened under Code of Criminal Procedure 250 is 2,643 and the number of accused here is 6,688 and, again in 2008, number of cases opened at Children High Criminal Courts under Anti-Terror Law Nr. 3713 is 11 and the number of accused is 27” said Ergin. In a distribution of cases opened under Anti-Terror Law among the provinces, Diyarbakır ranks first with 161 cases. While Diyarbakır ranks first in cases filed against 2,993 accused, Istanbul followed Diyarbakır with 511 cases, Van is third with 401 cases, Adana is fourth with 157 cases and Izmir is fifth with 171 cases. Again in the year 2008, 104 cases were filed at criminal courts against 176 accused under Article 302 of Turkish Criminal Code and the number of cases filed under Article 314 of Turkish Criminal Code was 278.
Ergin also gave information about distribution of children at detention facilities and institution types as of July 31, 2009. According to this, the highest number of sentenced and arrested children is in Children detention facilities where there are 933 children. This is followed by E-type execution institutions with 611 children, M-type with 200, closed execution institutions with 195 and L-type with 137 children. The highest number of arrested and sentenced children among provinces is in Istanbul where there are 511 children. It is followed by Izmir with 270, Adana with 260, Ankara with 155 and Diyarbakır with 109 children.
(radikal.com.tr, 06 January 2010)