No national law or regulation establishes a minimum standard for living space. The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) recommends a minimum living space of 4 m2 per person in dormitories.¹ Due to the increasing prison population, units and dormitories accommodate more people than their official capacity.² Additional mattresses are put on the floor, resulting in a decrease of the living space per person, with sometimes no floor space left.³

Prisoners are accommodated in single, double or triple cells,¹ or in large dormitories which can accommodate up to 28 people.² Most prisoners are held in communal cells.³ Prisoners can be placed in single cells for security reasons.⁴ In high-security closed prisons, people are accommodated in single or triple cells (Law n° 5275 on the Enforcement of Sentences and Security Measures, Article 9). In 2017, Batman M-type prison, Diyarbakır D- and E-type prisons and Siirt and Trabzon E-type prisons were severely overcrowded. The CPT observed dormitories measuring 35 m2 to 75 m2 accommodating between 16 and 34 prisoners.⁵ Since the beginning of the 2000s, the prison architecture began shifting from ward-type to cell-type prisons.⁶

Cells must possess adequate lighting (Law n° 5275 on the Enforcement of Sentences and Security Measures, Article 63). Prisoners have to pay for the electricity consumption of their electronic equipment, with the exception of lighting.¹

Facilities must be adequately ventilated and kept at an appropriate temperature with regard to local climate conditions (Regulation n° 2324 on the Management of Penal Institutions and the Enforcement of Sentences and Security Measures, Article 95).

Civil society organisation and CPT reports indicate that prisoners often lack adequate heating and complain about the cold.¹²³ The number of radiators is insufficient and they do not always function.⁴ The buildings are not always isolated, particularly in old facilities, and are not built according to the climate in which they are situated.[^cisstb] No extra blankets are provided, prisoners must buy them at the prison canteen. Prisoners stay warm by filling up plastic bottles with hot water. During summer, temperatures inside facilities are high. There is often no central ventilation. Prisoners are allowed to buy a fan.⁵

In Bayburt M-type, Batman M-type, Diyarbakır E-type, Siirt E-type and Trabzon E-type prisons, dormitories have a sanitary annex situated on the lower floor, with one or two toilets and showers, depending on the size of the dormitory.¹² In most prisons, sanitary facilities are shared by prisoners and located outside the cells.³ All showers are individual. In several prisons, hot water is available from one to three and a half hours per day, up to three times a week, to shower, wash up and wash clothes.⁴⁵⁶

In 2021, the CİSST received complaints about short usage times, as well as dirty and outdated sanitary facilities and toilets.¹ Difficult access to sanitation facilities seems to be a widespread issue. Overcrowding leads to highly deteriorated hygiene conditions. The number of toilets is not sufficient in overcrowded prisons.² Toilets are mostly shared.³ The CPT observed, in 2017, that 30 to 40 prisoners had to share one toilet, causing frequent waiting times.⁴ The Observatory on the Penal System and Human Rights (OSPDH) reported, in February 2024, that it is common for 50 women to share one toilet.⁵ The CPT also noted, at Diyarbakır and Trabzon E-type Prisons, that in-cell showers were not functioning at the time of the visit. Prisoners had to wash themselves with water collected in buckets.⁶ In 2019, CİSST received complaints regarding privacy, with the range of security cameras including toilets.⁷

Prisoners need to buy toiletries and hygiene products such as soap, toilet paper, sanitary towels, disinfectant products, gloves, or masks¹ from the prison canteen.² Indigent prisoners are not provided with basic hygiene supplies.³⁴ A study conducted in five facilities in March 2022, by the NGO Medical and Law Studies Association, indicated that 56% of the surveyed prisoners declared that they did not have sufficient hygiene products.⁵ Other complaints include an insufficient number of washbasins.⁶

The necessary tools and equipment for cleaning must be provided by the prison administration (Regulation n° 2324 on the Management of Penal Institutions and the Enforcement of Sentences and Security Measures, Article 95). In practice, the CPT and civil society report that prisoners have to buy cleaning products from the prison canteen to clean their cell.¹² Cleaning products from the outside are not authorised.³ The prison canteen products are generally expensive and of poor quality. Some prisoners do not have the financial means to purchase cleaning products, especially with high and growing inflation rates. In 2017, the hygiene conditions of several dormitories in Siirt E-type prison were poor, with infestations of cockroaches. Some accommodation areas had crumbling walls and decrepit in-cell toilets.⁴

In 2021, CİSST received complaints concerning old or dirty bedding and reported failure to change mattresses and pillows at regular intervals. They further noted that new or clean bedding was not provided in prisons affected by scabies outbreaks. Prisoners had to clean their own bedding.¹ In Bayburt M-type Closed Prison, blankets are not washed regularly as they are considered large and heavy items that can cause damage to the washing machines.² In Çanakkale E-type closed prison, bed linen and blankets are washed every 15 days.³ Prisoners can buy extra bedding in the prison canteen, if available.⁴

The daily cost of meals per prisoner is 11.5 TL (0.35 EUR). For children aged 0-6 and their mothers, it is 23 TL (0.69 EUR).¹ Prisoners must reimburse all costs incurred from food consumption at the end of their sentence.

Prisoners can buy a refrigerator from the canteen. They have to pay for the electricity consumed and shipping if they are transferred to another prison. They cannot take it with them upon release.