Since mid-June, there have been rolling blackouts throughout the Lebap region. In this situation, prisoners LB-K/11 (strict security colony) and LB-K/12 (general security colony) suffer the most.
According to ACCA sources, electricity is cut off for at least 6 hours and sometimes for 2-3 days. Without electricity, the pumps that supply water to the colonies do not work, which is why the prisoners cannot take a shower and drink tea. In the canteens of the colonies, water is brought by car, the water is brackish and rusty.
Due to a power outage, pumps for pumping out wastewater also do not work, and prisoners are not allowed to go to the toilet. The last time there was no electricity in the colonies for about two days, the prisoners emptied themselves into bags and threw them into garbage cans since there is no problem with garbage collection.
ACCA has also learned that the gas pressure has been reduced in these colonies to save money. Now the prisoners need about four hours to cook one pot of soup for themselves, and to boil water for tea, they have to get up at three in the morning and put the kettle on the gas stove. The prisoners even organized a duty to boil water in the morning. Boiled water can be taken in canteens, but you will have to pay 10 manats for it to the head of the canteen, and not everyone has the money to buy water.
Due to the lack of water and the ban on the use of a washbasin and shower, the prisoners cannot shave, and the guards specifically require shaving every day. In the absence of water, for a certain amount, you may not shave, and those who did not have money were sent to the isolation cell, some shaved dry.
The leadership of these colonies did not react in any way to the appeals of the prisoners. According to the World Prison Brief report, Turkmenistan ranks third in the world in terms of the number of prisoners per 100,000 of the country’s population, with an indicator of 576 prisoners. Turkmen prisons remain closed for visits and monitoring by independent observers and international organizations.
