About Us

The Civil Society in the Penal System Association (Ceza İnfaz Sisteminde Sivil Toplum Derneği, CISST) was founded in 2006 in Istanbul. CISST works to protect the rights and liberties of prisoners and to provide that the rights, conditions, and practices in prisons in Turkey comply with human dignity and universal standards of human rights.

CISST is against perceptions and discourses that stigmatize prisoners or view them as a monolithic group, it thus centralizes the development of a rights-based understanding and language in all its works. In line with this stance, CISST adopts an inclusive and holistic human rights approach, bringing into focus the situations of various groups of prisoners with diverse needs, namely the LGBTI+, disabled, elderly, foreign, women, child, or sick people in prisons, those sentenced to aggravated imprisonment for life, and worker and student prisoners.