Prisoners in Türkiye could begin doing community service as authorities mull ways of rehabilitation with a new penal law amid recent debates of a blanket amnesty.
Instead of a full pardon, officials of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) are pondering a new regulation that would employ prisoners determined to be of good conduct in public institutions after serving a certain portion of their sentence.
In the current practice, convicts can benefit from the rights of probation, open prison or conditional release during periods of good behavior.
The planned changes would provide inmates upon release the opportunity to serve the remainder of their sentences doing public work at libraries, schools or in environmental cleanup and firefighting.
The regulation would cover all forms of crime, including terrorism.
According to AK Party officials, there are currently no plans for an amnesty or partial amnesty.
Mandatory work in public sectors could eliminate common conditions for committing crime, party officials have said.
“Once released on probation due to good behavior, the prisoner tends to commit crimes again,” an AK Party executive told BBC Türkçe.
“But one of the main goals of criminal law is to rehabilitate the prisoner. Today, there are only vocational departments in certain prisons and regulations for the person to complete their education. With this regulation, we aim to eliminate the conditions for being dragged into crime as much as possible.
“Different practices need to be implemented for each type of crime so that after the execution, the person can be rehabilitated and reintegrated into society. We say this on paper, but in practice, it needs to be taken to a different level. The way to do this is to take part in public services.”
According to current penal practice, an administrative and prison monitoring board can make an evaluation every six months and determine the good conduct of the convicts.
Good conduct evaluations of convicts who spend a certain part of their sentence in closed prisons, depending on the type of crime, take into account several criteria, including whether the convict is ready to integrate into society; whether the risk of re-offending, harming the victim or others is low, as well as remorse and behaviors in prison.
Convicts deemed to exhibit “good behavior” can benefit from open prisons, supervised release or be released on terms.
According to a January 2023 survey from the European Council, Türkiye has 348,265 prisoners.