In the women’s colony DZ-K/8 in the city of Dashoguz, prisoners are illegally forced to overwork, and the inspection structures turn a blind eye.
According to ACCA sources, women are forced by threats to work overtime and instead of 8 hours of work established by the internal regulations, women are forced to work 12-16 hours a day. In addition, if an urgent order is received from government agencies, they have to work on weekends.
In Turkmenistan, the minimum wage is set at 1,050 manats, but in the colony, the average salary for female prisoners is 500 manats. A half of the wages are put in the pocket of the head of the colony, although women sign documents for the amount of 1,050 manats.
As it turned out, the administration of the colony is also engaged in an underground business, forcing women to weave carpets and sew national dresses with embroidery for sale in the market and clothing stores in other regions. For this work, women don’t receive money, all the proceeds belong to the administration of the colony. ACCA sources reported that more than one fourth of the Turkmen national dresses sold in the market of Dashoguz region were sewn by women from the women’s colony.
The Department for the Execution of Sentences is aware of what is happening in the women’s colony. They often come from Ashgabat with checks, but the inspectors leave with money and expensive gifts from the colony’s administration. Each report on the women’s colony indicates that the institution is in order and no violations have been identified.
An interesting situation has developed in the colony with the prosecutor for supervision. ACCA sources said that when the prosecutor receives complaints from the prisoners of the colony, they themselves are to blame in the end. The supervisory prosecutor always indicates that the women are not at the resort. The prisoners themselves say that the administration of the colony has bribed the supervisory prosecutor and an example of this is the death of two women. One woman died due to the fact that she wasn’t provided with medical assistance. The woman was from a poor family and was simply not able to pay for the services of doctors working in the colony. The second woman died after an abortion. They couldn’t stop her bleeding, and a day after the operation she died. She became pregnant from one of the colony’s officers.
