Recent Amendments Concerning the Conditions of Convicted Persons under Turkish Penal Enforcement Law

Attorney Dr. Tolga Ersoy | Criminal Law | February 23, 2017

Pursuant to the "Regulation Amending the Regulation on Transfer to Open Penal Institutions" published in the Official Gazette dated February 22, 2017, and numbered 29987, it is observed that amendments have been made in the field of Turkish Penal Enforcement Law.

Article 1 of the Regulation amends the phrase "their sentences" in Article 6/1/a of the Regulation on Transfer to Open Penal Institutions, published in the Official Gazette dated September 2, 2012, and numbered 28399, to read: "those whose sentences are less than ten years [shall serve] one month, and those whose sentences are ten years or more, their".

Article 2 of the Regulation amends Article 8/1/c of the Regulation on Transfer to Open Penal Institutions to read: "c) Those who, even if a good conduct decision has been rendered concerning them, have received a total of five or more solitary confinement penalties due to acts enumerated in Article 44 of Law No. 5275, and one year has not passed since the lifting of their last solitary confinement penalty."

Article 3 of the Regulation amends Articles 13/1 and 13/2 of the Regulation on Transfer to Open Penal Institutions to read: "(1) Convicted persons whose sentences are being executed in an open institution, and who are returned to a closed institution due to a disciplinary penalty other than a reprimand, excluding the offense of escape, may be transferred to an open institution from the date of the lifting of the disciplinary penalty, provided they comply with other conditions stipulated in the Regulation." and "(2) Convicted persons who escape for the first time while their sentence is being executed in an open institution, are apprehended, and returned to a closed institution with a solitary confinement disciplinary penalty, may be transferred to an open institution from the date of the lifting of the disciplinary penalty, provided they comply with other conditions stipulated in the Regulation and are assessed as unlikely to escape again. However, for convicted persons who escape from an open institution for a second time, the provisions of Article 8, paragraph 2, subparagraph (c) of this Regulation shall apply."

Pursuant to these legal provisions, convicted persons whose sentences are less than 10 years will be transferred to an open penal institution if they have served 1 month of their sentence in the institution with good conduct. Within this scope, convicted persons will remain in a closed penal institution for 1 month, and then will be transferred to an open penal institution.

Convicted persons whose sentences are over 10 years will serve one-tenth of their sentence in a closed penal institution. Upon the completion of this period, they will be transferred to an open penal institution.

With the latest regulation, the conditions for those who will not be transferred to an open penal institution have been softened and amended as follows: Namely, if a convicted person has escaped once, they will be transferred to an open institution. If a convicted person escapes twice, they will not be eligible for transfer to an open institution. If a convicted person has received a disciplinary penalty while in an open penal institution and has been returned to a closed institution, they will be transferred from the closed institution to an open institution if they comply with the conditions of the regulation.

In light of the latest amendments, an improvement in the conditions of convicted persons in the field of Turkish Penal Enforcement Law is observed.