In the weeks since, authorities have rounded up and jailed tens of thousands of people suspected to be connected to a movement led by Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric living in exile in the United States who Ankara claims was behind the coup plot.
Some of the plans for the new facilities were already in place before the failed putsch, in which a mutinous faction of the military attempted to seize institutions of the state, bomb parliament and turn their weapons on protesting civilians before being quashed by loyalist forces. In March, reports suggested that Turkish jails were already at capacity.
But the sweeping purge, which has netted a vast number of journalists, lawyers, teachers and other members of civil society, has accelerated the need for new facilities. According to statistics from officials last month, about 35,000 people have been detained as part of the crackdown, and about 17,000 of them have been formally arrested.
In August, prison overcrowding was such a problem that the government issued a decree granting about 38,000 convicts early parole to free up room in the facilities. Detainees were being forced to sleep in shifts, while attorneys for those in jail have told reporters that, in some instances, cells are holding double the number of inmates they are supposed to.
"They are six people staying in cells built for three people,” lawyer Gul Altay told the Hurriyet newspaper. "They are sleeping in bunk beds in turns. The prison is already overcrowded. Instead of taking steps to solve the situation, the state plans to jail more people via opening more prisons."
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