Following the lead of countries like Iran and Bahrain, which have freed thousands of prisoners to reduce the risk of COVID-19 deaths in overburdened penitentiaries, Turkey is mulling legislation that would free some of its 300,000 detainees, Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul has confirmed.

The bill has provoked fierce debate as the death toll from COVID-19 rose to 30 and the number of confirmed cases hit 1,236 in the country of 83 million. Gul said no cases had been recorded among prisoners so far. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appealed via Twitter for citizens to remain at home and a partial curfew was slapped on people above the age of 65 as Turkey began shifting its response into higher gear, with mosques, schools, sports venues and the fabled Grand Bazaar in Istanbul all shut down. The government issued a new circular allowing public sector employees to work remotely.

Rights groups have been calling for political prisoners to be freed and to be allowed to spend pre-trial detention or serve out their sentences at home. The advocacy group Jurists for Freedom observed in a report based on visits to several prisons in Turkey’s western Marmara region in the wake of the outbreak that inmates complained of not being provided with cleaning materials such as disinfectants. Some prison officials wore protective masks and gloves while others didn’t.

Prominent human rights lawyer Erdal Dogan told Al-Monitor, "The risk of the virus spreading through prisons is huge. Many are operating well above capacity with inmates taking turns sleeping on the floor. Ventilation runs on a closed-circuit system, recycling the same air, and there are tens of thousands of prison staff who have daily contact with their families, who can contaminate each other and prisoners."