Murder convict kills wife during jail visit

SİVAS

AA Photo

A murder convict in eastern Turkey has stabbed his wife to death during a stay in the prison’s “pink room,” where prisoners are allowed to spend hours in privacy with their wives.

Metin Avcı, who was serving a 16-year jail sentence at a prison in the Sivas province, met his wife in the room late March 19, according to the Doğan News Agency. The wife, Leyla Avcı, had come to visit him from the southeastern province of Gaziantep, where she lives.

After a while in the room, Avcı stabbed his wife before trying to cut his own arms, the report said.

Wardens found the body of the young woman and discovered her throat had been slit. The murder weapon was a knife the convict had found in a basket of fruit served to the pink room as a treat from prison authorities, though his motive was unknown.

The convict was hospitalized while his wife’s body was sent to the forensics morgue for examination, the agency reported.

Inspired by similar practices abroad, Turkey’s Justice Ministry launched the “pink room” policy for married convicts and their spouses in 2013. Convicts and arrestees can stay in these rooms with their wives for up to 24 hours. Turkey’s first “pink room baby” was born last year.