Ankara was expected to build new prisons in the country within the framework of the state program to upgrade the capabilities of Turkey's penitentiary system, as it was unable to cope with the amount of prisoners after the July coup, the Turkish Minute online outlet said, citing Turkey's Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag.
The media outlet added that at the same time, the authorities would close 157 old prisons because of their poor conditions.
On July 15, a military coup attempt took place in Turkey. Ankara accused Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, who has been living in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999, and his followers of playing a key role in the coup. Since July, Turkey has detained more than 82,000 military personnel, activists and journalists on suspicion of involvement in the coup activities and arrested 40,000 of them, mostly due to the alleged links to Gulen.
