Turkey Releases 38,000 Prisoners to Make Space for Arrested Coup Plotters

Turkey will release some 38,000 prisoners the government announced on Wednesday to provide space for the thousands of suspected coup plotters arrested last month.

Probationary Freedom

The announcement said that convicts must have served at least half of their sentences and only have two years left to be eligible for probationary freedom.

Previously Turkish law requires prisoners to serve two thirds of their sentence before they can appeal for an early release.

The released prisoners would still be under the supervision of the government.

Prisoners convicted of terrorism, murder, rape and harassment are permanently denied any type of eligibility and would remain incarcerated indefinitely as the government processes the release of the 38,000 prisoners.

Turkey's prison population is bursting at the seams with 188,000 recorded prisoners as of March which was already some 8,000 more above capacity according to Reuters.

Reuters reported that Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag called the mass release of prisoners a much needed "penal reform" for Turkey stating in twitter that "This measure is not an amnesty. Around 38,000 people will be released from jail in the first stage as a result of this measure."

Massive Crackdown

More than 35,000 individuals were arrested for charges of treason including government civil servants, judges, journalists, and teachers in a coup plot that shook Turkey to the core.

The manhunt for all who were suspected of bringing down Turkish President Erdogan's government also included a search of corporations some of which were involve in retail, healthcare and technology. The companies' executives were detained and interrogated to know if they participated in the coup.

Erdogan Justifies

Erdogan justifies his massive national manhunt out of fear that the coup plotters have infiltrated every layer of Turkish society to build "a parallel state" that would eventually gobble up his government.

Erdogan has came under extreme criticism from his NATO allies for his tyrannical crackdown but the president defends his actions stating that Turkey is facing a serious internal national threat which demands extreme measures to extinguish.