Turkey’s prison population rises by 10 pct in one year

ISTANBUL

DHA Photo

The number of convicts in Turkey’s prisons rose by more than 10 percent from 2013 to 2014, according to data recently released by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK).

The number of individuals in prison increased yearly by 10.1 percent in 2014, as the population in Turkish prisons was around 144,000 in 2013 and 158,690 in 2014, according to data released by the TÜİK on Dec. 7.

The 2014 total was an increase of more than 30 percent from 2010, when Turkey’s prison population was only around 120,000.

In demographical terms, the data showed 96.4 percent of the prison population was male in 2014.

When taking into account both the number of persons imprisoned and the number of people discharged from prison, the data showed the number of persons imprisoned rose by 5 percent in 2014 compared to 2013.

The number of persons imprisoned in 2014 was 170,733, compared to 162,000 in 2013.

Standing out as a substantial decrease, the number of persons discharged from prison dropped by around 15 percent in 2014 compared to 2013. The number of persons released from prison was around 157,000 in 2013, but dropped to around 136,000 in 2014.

The data also hinted at a correlation between education level and criminal activity. 

Some 31.6 percent of convicts in 2014 were middle school graduates, the data showed.

The data showed 42.2 percent of convicts who had committed theft had completed middle school, while 20.7 percent of them had completed primary school. 

Some 15.7 percent of the prisoners were recorded as literate but had not graduated from a school, according to the data. 

The data also showed 31.4 percent of convicts who committed assault had completed middle school and that 26.4 percent of them had completed primary school. The assault convicts who graduated from secondary school made up 20.7 percent of the persons imprisoned in 2014.