Early release plan for convicts after Covid-19 prison outbreak

PLANS were this week drawn up to allow some prisoners to be released early after a spate of Covid-19 cases were detected at the overcrowded Central Prison.

Interior Minister Kutlu Evren said in a statement on Tuesday that he planned to reenact a temporary amendment to parole laws that was implemented to deal with a previous coronavirus outbreak in the prison.

“Despite all the measures taken, because of the positive cases in the Central Prison in recent days, it has been determined that some additional precautions should be taken to safely protect the health of the detainees and convicts,” he said in a statement.

“The proposal prepared for the re-enactment of the amendment made in the Parole Regulation . . . was approved by our Council of Ministers.”

He said that the new early release scheme would be valid for 90 days once published in the Official Gazette, but

would exclude those who have committed “serious crimes”.

Those eligible will be able to apply for parole once they have served a third of their sentence, rather than half their sentence, he said.

Mr Evren stated that there are 634 prisoners when the “prison’s actual maximum capacity is 454”.

On Monday Interior Ministry undersecretary Emre Hacı said that at least 26 positive cases and contacts in the prison had been “isolated” and the “necessary health measures” taken.

There were plans to move some of the infected inmates to part of the new prison in Haspolat, which has yet to be officially opened.

Mr Hacı added that most of the cases were “mild or asymptomatic” and that most prisoners were fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile Cyprus Turkish Civil Servants Union leader Güven Bengihan said that the resignation of the government on Wednesday meant that it was not possible for the temporary amendment to parole laws to be approved by a “technical committee”, of which he is a member, and published in the Official Gazette.

He added that the number of Covid-19 positive inmates had risen to 34 but that so far no prison officers had been infected.