| Bakırköy Women's Prison | |
| Pushpin Map: | Turkey Istanbul |
| Pushpin Label: | Bakırköy Women's Prison |
| Location: | Bakırköy, Istanbul |
| Coordinates: | 40.9903°N 28.8572°W |
| Status: | Operational |
| Capacity: | 912 |
| Population: | 900 women, 56 children of age group 0–6 (as of Match 2017) |
| Managed By: | Ministry of Justice |
| Street-Address: | Zuhuratbaba Mah., Dr. Tevfik Sağlam Cad. 28 |
| City: | Bakırköy, Istanbul |
| Country: | Turkey |
Bakırköy Women's Prison (Turkish: Bakırköy Kadın Kapalı Ceza İnfaz Kurumu), or officially Bakırköy Women's Closed Penitentiary, is a state women's correctional institution in Istanbul, Turkey. It was established in 2008.
The prison was established by the Ministry of Justice on January 28, 2008. It is situated at Zuhuratbaba Mah., Dr. Tevfik Sağlam Cad. 28, next to the hospital for leprosy, skin illness and venereal diseases in Bakırköy district of Istanbul, Turkey. To the east 112 Emergency Control Center, to the east and south the Bakırköy Psychiatric Hospital and to the west the Sports Complex of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality are located. Its distance to the Bakırköy Justice Palace is about
The total number of administrative personnel is 292, including 235 prison wardens and ten head wardens. About 200 of the personnel are female.
The building consists of three blocks. Each block contains cells or living quarters in different size reserved for detainees only or prisoners of same age groups. In addition to 41 cells for single inmates, there are wards, also called pods, for 2, 6, 12 and 24 inmates. Other facilities in the prison building are a primary care infirmary with five beds, three rooms for family reunion and five visiting rooms with audiovisual features used also for teleconference between a court room and a defendant, who does not leave the prison.
The prison administration conducts general or individual searches, also called shakedowns, of the inmates or the living areas for contraband as a normal part of prison life in intervals not exceeding 30 days. These can be routine or random. A general search is carried out with participation of the public prosecutor and the commander of the local gendarmerie.
All outgoing and incoming mail, telegraphs and faxes are read by a censor commission, and incoming books, periodicals and printed publications are examined by the education unit.
For security lighting purposes, 45 floodlight projectors at the guard towers and 15 projectors on the surrounding walls are installed. Inside and outside areas of the faculty are monitored by video surveillance. Footage is saved in the central control room.
The hour between 7:00 and 8:00 is the inmates' wake-up, personal care and breakfast time. After the inmates count, convicts and detainees are prepared until 9:00 hours to go to the primary care unit, hospital or court. The prison offers treatment for the inmates by in-house dentist, gynaecologist, psychiatrist and family physician. Inmates can join social activities before and after the lunch, can read newspapers, books, watch television and play chess etc. Bedtime is at 23:00 hours.
An African-American screenwriter woman, Maisha Yearwood, who identified herself as butch lesbian, was detained in 2009 after her arrest at the airport for drug possession. Before her reception into the prison, the facility doctor questioned her to determine her sex, which was not clear due to her appearance. She was later sent to a hospital for a gynaecological examination. She had to spend her time in solitary confinement.
In 2015, a trans woman claimed that she was subject to forced search and harassment by law enforcement officers during her visit to the prison. An LGBT activist, who went to the prison the same year to visit an inmate, reported that she was denied a body search in the security line for females and was directed to a check by male guards because of her trans women identity. She refused the search, and was harassed after she argued with the male guard.
A prison riot attempt occurred on August 1, 2016, orchestrated by a group of inmates affiliated with the illegal Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP-C). The convicts set some of the pods on fire, and damaged them. Following the investigation by the public prosecutor, the prison doctor, the medical assistant and two female guards were arrested for leading to a chaos, misconduct and instigation.