70,000 inmates engaged in programs across various sectors in Türkiye

ANKARA

About 70,000 inmates and detainees across Türkiye are engaged in production and vocational training programs organized by the Justice Ministry’s prison industries institution, which oversees workshops in more than 200 lines of work.

According to the ministry’s statement, the initiative is designed to provide inmates with professional skills, support their rehabilitation and help them reintegrate into society after release.

Activities cover six main areas: Industrial production, handicrafts, construction and maintenance, food processing, agriculture and livestock and service operations.

Currently, 377 work centers with about 1,700 workshops operate within prisons and detention facilities nationwide. Inmates receive vocational training and on-the-job education and are insured against occupational accidents and diseases.

Those participating in production are paid daily wages and can also obtain official apprenticeship, journeyman or master's certificates based on their training.

The goods produced in these facilities are sold to the public through dedicated stores and fairs organized in various cities.

To promote these vocational and rehabilitation programs, the institution also organizes fairs across the country.

This year’s event in the northwestern province of Edirne, held from Oct. 3 to 7, drew nearly 114,000 visitors. Combined with fairs in the provinces of Kırıkkale, Van and Ankara, total attendance reached around 570,000.

Since 2015, prison industry fairs have been organized in 37 of the country’s 81 provinces, with the next one scheduled to take place in the southern city of Mersin from Nov. 14 to 18.