Wednesday 02.04 @ Rigaer94 20:00 Küfa / 20:30 Film starts
Morgue X is the third film in this series of screenings about prison and isolation. It is a 37-minute video essay based on a smuggled letter from prisoners in S,R,Y type prisons in Turkey. This series of screenings is part of an effort to raise awareness about the ongoing hunger strikes in prisons across Turkey against this new type of isolation regime. The names and addresses of the 10 prisoners currently on hunger strike can be found at the end of the call.
About three years ago, the Turkish state silently built a new type of isolation prisons. These prisons are called S,R,Y type prisons, which are known to the public as well-type prisons because they resemble holes, not even a cell.
Although there are variations in each prison administration, the general conditions of well-type prisons can be described as follows:
- The prisoner has to spend 23 hours alone in a 6 square meter cell, 1 hour alone in the yard.
- The cell and the yard are on different floors. The prisoner has to endure snow, rain, dust and sun in the yard for 1 hour.
- If only the prison administration allows it, they can spend 1 or 1.5 hours in the yard with two other prisoners, but always with the same ones.
- Constant surveillance under 24-hour cameras.
Revolutionary prisoners started hunger strikes right from the moment they were transferred from F type prisons to S,R,Y type prisons. When their demands were ignored, they escalated to death fasts, which is a kind of indefinite hunger strike. So far, every resistance has been successful. 10 prisoners have managed to secure their transfer from well-type prisons back to F type prisons through resistance, where they can be with their comrades. However, their transfers only happen when the hunger strikes are extremely long, typically 200 days. Prisoners are often deprived of the vital vitamin B1, which is crucial for the health of hunger strikers. During the hunger strike, the absence of vitamin B1 leads to death in a maximum of 70 days if it is done only with sugar and water.
Apart from the 9 prisoners, who are currently on indefinite hunger strike, Fikret Akar, who is imprisoned in Çorlu Y type Prison, will start/began an indefinite hunger strike on March 30. As he has been warned by the prison administration that he will not be provided with sugar and vitamin B1, he chooses to protest this condition by changing the hunger strike into a thirst strike. This means that he could die within a week at the most, and that he is likely to suffer serious health problems in the first few days of his strike.
The screening will be combined with a short presentation on the historical development of prison and isolation. Afterwards, we would like to have a collective discussion based on the material presented and guided by some questions that we will share.
Prisoners, who are on hunger strike:
Sercan Ahmet Arslan , since October 20, 2024, Buca Υüksek Güvenlikli Hapishane, İzmir, Türkiye
Mulla Zincir, since November 13, 2024, Buca Υüksek Güvenlikli Hapishane, İzmir, Türkiye
Serkan Onur Yılmaz, since November 10, 2024, Antalya Υüksek Güvenlikli Hapishane, Antalya, Türkiye
Baki Can Işık, since December 19, 2024, Sincan 2 No’lu Υüksek Güvenlikli Hapishanesi, Ankara, Türkiye
Yurdagül Gümüş, since January 1, 2025, Marmara Kapalı Hapishanesi, Istanbul, Türkiye
Mithat Öztürk, since February 12, 2025, Sincan 2 No’lu Υüksek Güvenlikli Hapishanesi, Ankara, Türkiye
Hasan Ali Akgün, since February 17, 2025, Sincan 1 No’lu Υüksek Güvenlikli Hapishanesi, Ankara, Türkiye
Ali Aracı, since February 18, 2025, Sincan 1 No’lu Υüksek Güvenlikli Hapishanesi, Ankara, Türkiye
Ayberk Demirdöğen, since March 11, 2025, Antalya Υüksek Güvenlikli Hapishane, Antalya, Türkiye
Fikret Akar, since March 30, 2025, Karatepe Yüksek Güvenlikli Hapishane, A13, Çorlu, Tekirdağ, Türkiye