WordBulletin

World Bulletin / News Desk 

Fourteen inmates were injured in a prison fire in the northeastern Turkish province of Ardahan on Thursday.

The fire started in the Ardahan B-Type Prison after an inmate set his properties on fire late on Thursday.

13 convicts and a warden were hospitalized after the fire which was immediately contained by a firefighter team.

Ardahan Governor Seyfettin Azizoğlu said the fire was started by a convict who was taken to the Ardahan State Hospital with second-degree burns.

The injured are reported to be in good condition.                    

Thursday’s fire recalled recent prison fires started by inmates to protest poor prison conditions

A fire that broke out after a fight among prisoners in a Şanlıurfa prison in June claimed the lives of 13 inmates. The prisoners in Şanlıurfa set their bedding on fire following a fight in a ward housing 18 inmates. Five surviving prisoners were left injured..

The incident spawned a new wave of fires started by prisoners in various prisons across Turkey to protest their living conditions.

Last September, five convicts were also killed in a fire while they were being transferred from the eastern province of Van to a prison in İstanbul. The convicts were killed when the prisoner transport vehicle carrying them caught fire due to a technical problem.

The tragic incident took place in the central Anatolian province of Kayseri and brought the issues faced by prisoners to Turkey's agenda.