Disciplinary evolution of Turkish prisons, 1980

Abstract

Following the military coup that toppled the government in September 1980, Turkish prisons, like the rest of the country, came under military control. Abhorrent levels of violence inflicted under military discipline became the source of horror stories. However, by early 1990s, official authorities had almost completely lost control of prisons to political prisoner organizations. This chapter analyzes how such a drastic change took place within a decade. Focusing on the ongoing struggles between political prisoner organizations and official actors over control of daily life, I argue that the resistance strategies developed by the political prisoners against the military disciplinary project in 1980s became the source of a prisoner-imposed disciplinary project in 1990s.

Citation

Ibikoglu, A. (2010), "Disciplinary evolution of Turkish prisons, 1980", Sarat, A. (Ed.) Special Issue Interdisciplinary Legal Studies: The Next Generation (Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Vol. 51), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 67-94. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1059-4337(2010)0000051006