As of 1 February 2022, the distribution of prisoners by length of sentence is as follows:

• <1 month: 228 (0.1%)
• 1 - 3 months: 1,618 (0.6%)
• 3 - 6 months: 9,146 (3.4%)
• 6 - 12 months: 8,468 (3.2%)
• 1 - 3 years: 24,694 (9.3%)
• 3 - 5 years: 20,695 (7.9%)
• 5 - 10 years: 59,594 (22.4%)
• 10 - 20 years: 78,350 (29.5%)
• 20 years and over: 48,154 (18.1%)
• Life imprisonment: 10,236 (3.9%)
• Other: 4,157 (1.6%)¹

For the questions related to different categories of prison population, see the section “Special Populations”.

The prison service is organised around a central administration and provincial directorates.

Standardisation for prison regimes remains vague. These vary considerably, from open regimes, where prisoners can go out during the day for work or education, to closed high-security regimes, where prisoners are isolated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In practice, the same regime may be applied differently from one facility to another. This remains at the discretion of the governor.

The prison estate is comprised of the following types of facilities (Law n° 5275 on the Enforcement of Sentences and Security Measures, Articles 8-15):

• Open prisons do not have physical barriers or external security guards to prevent escape. Prisoners can leave the prison at certain times, for example during weekends or holidays, or to attend work or training. They also have unrestricted access to telephones.¹ Prisoners are responsible for organising their transportation from a closed prison to an open prison, and covering related costs. They may request financial aid. Prisoners who do not arrive to the open prison within the allotted time may be considered as ‘fleeing’ and placed in solitary confinement for up to 11 days and returned to the closed prison for one year.² Placement in an open prison is reserved for those sentenced to three years or less for ‘intentional crimes’, or to five years or less for ‘recklessly unconscious crimes’. Those whose judicial fines were converted into prison sentences and those sentenced in accordance with the Execution and Bankruptcy Law n° 2004 (dated 9 June 1932) are also eligible. Other prisoners may qualify, but those sentenced to the following ‘intentional crimes’ are excluded: terrorism; establishing, managing, being a member of, or committing a crime within the scope of a criminal organisation; crimes against sexual integrity; second time offenders; sentences for which conditional release may not be granted. Prisoners awaiting trial are not eligible. The person must agree to work in order to be placed in an open prison. According to some sources, this condition may be bypassed in exceptional cases due to privileges associated with social status.

• Closed prisons are surrounded by an outer wall guarded by the gendarmerie. Prison guards provide security inside the walls and movement for prisoners is restricted. Some of these facilities were built for male populations but also hold women in separate units.

• High security prisons are made up of 7 to 10 m2 cells, including sanitary facilities, and holding one to three prisoners each.³ Solitary confinement and isolation are the effective norm for some prisoners held in these facilities.⁴ Access to activities and contact with other prisoners are minimal. Placement is reserved for prisoners sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment, considered dangerous and requiring special supervision, or consistently resisting rehabilitation measures. This also extends to those having established or led an organisation for the purposes of violating any of the following Penal Code articles: crimes against humanity (Articles 77-78), intentional homicide (Articles 81-82), manufacturing and trafficking narcotic drugs or stimulants (Article 188), offences against the security of the State (Articles 302-304, 307-308), or offences against the constitutional order and its functioning (Articles 309-315). Prisoners may be eligible for transfer to less secure facilities after having served one third of their sentence. Those sentenced to life imprisonment, must serve two thirds of the period established for conditional release eligibility, in order to be transferred.

The following facilities are specifically reserved for minors and young adults (see section ‘Minors’ for more information):

• Child education centres concentrate on education, vocational training and reintegration into society. Education and training may take place inside or outside of the facility. A child having reached the age of 18 may remain in the facility until the age of 21 in order to complete their education and/or training. These operate under an open regime.

• Child closed prisons are designated for children between the ages of 12 and 18, and in certain cases, up until the age of 21. These operate under a closed regime.

The prison administration uses a lettering and numbering system to classify different types of closed and high security prisons. The Civil Society in the Penal System Association (CİSST) provides a detailed overview of the differences between each. For example, F-type prisons are high-security facilities introduced in 2000 and modelled after American supermax prisons; R-type (rehabilitation) facilities are designated for prisoners physically or mentally unable to care for themselves and requiring specific care.⁵⁶

The smallest prisons, A1-type penal institutions, hold as little as 24 prisoners each, while new large facilities can hold thousands. Some campus-type prisons, such as Sincan Prison, contain as many as 12 facilities. Marmara prison (formerly known as Silivri Penitentiary Campus) is one of the biggest prisons in the world, located in the province of İstanbul. It consists of 11 facilities and has an official capacity of approximately 11,000 prisoners. A Turkish parliamentary investigation revealed that there were 22,781 prisoners in 2019. İmralı prison is the smallest in the country, located in a military zone on a small island in the south of the Marmara Sea. It holds five prisoners as of 2024.¹

Older prisons may be located in urban centres. Newer prisons are built far away, hindering contact with the outside world.¹ Facilities specially designed for minors or women are limited and often result in prisoners being held far from their families, courts, hospitals and emergency services.

Prison officers receive training at the training centre in Ankara or in regional centres (Law n° 4769 on Penal Institution and Detention House Training Centres, Article 3). These centres must provide pre-service education (five months minimum), in-service training, career development and promotion training for administrative and correctional officers. Training must cover general legal knowledge, human rights, administrative law, criminal and penal law, social relations, social services and physical security training. Trainees shall be subject to written, oral, or practical examinations on the subjects taught to them during the training period (Articles 4, 11). Needs and expenses such as boarding, meals, official clothing and allowances are covered by the Ministry of Justice (Article 14).

In practice, CİSST reports that there is no substantial prior or ongoing training. Due to the increase in the prison population and the shortage of staff, guards are quickly recruited and put to work without having received adequate training.

Wages are in line with other civil service jobs of similar rank, but have not kept pace with the country’s high rate of inflation. Many are pushing for extra pay to reflect their difficult working conditions, on a par with that received by the military and police.