Diyarbakır Prison (Turkish: Diyarbakır Cezaevi) is a prison located in Diyarbakır, southeastern Turkey. It was built in 1980 as an E-type prison by the Ministry of Justice. After the September 12, 1980 Turkish coup d'état, the facility was transferred to military administration and became a Martial Law Military Prison (Turkish: Sıkıyönetim Askeri Cezaevi). Control of the prison was returned to the Ministry of Justice on May 8, 1988.

The capacity of Diyarbakir Prison is 744. However, the prison is sometimes overcrowded, seeing as many as 900 inmates. The D-type prison, which is provided for political defendants and verdicts can hold 688 persons.

Diyarbakır Prison gained infamy while under military control in the 1980s. During this time period, political prisoners, many of whom were PKK members, were tortured and killed. According to The Times, it is among the "ten most notorious jails in the world." Between 1981 and 1984, 34 people were tortured to the point of disability or death. As a result of this and the treatment of its prisoners in general, Diyarbakir was the scene of many uprisings and hunger strikes during the 1980s and 1990s.

Among Diyarbakir's better known inmates are Democratic Society Party (DTP) leader Ahmet Turk; former DTP deputies Nurettin Yılmaz, Celal Paydaş, and Mustafa Çakmak; former mayor Mehdi Zana; Kurdish writer and intellectual Orhan Miroğlu; and Kurdish poet Yılmaz Odabaşı. Bedii Tan, the father of Kurdish writer Altan Tan lost his life in this prison as a result of torture.

In August, 2009, plans were announced to convert the facility into a school.

The former prison in Diyarbakır gained infamy throughout the Ottoman Empire as a site, where political prisoners from the enslaved Balkan ethnic groups were sent to serve harsh sentences for speaking or fighting for national freedom.

"Although it is impossible to list all the methods of torture that were used, testimonies reveal that among the most common practices were: severe and systematic beating, pulling of hair, being stripped naked, being blindfolded and hosed, solitary confinement, guards’ insults, constant and relentless surveillance and intimidation, death threats, the obligation to salute Captain Esat Oktay Yıldıran’s dog, a German shepherd called "Jo", which was trained to bite the private parts of naked prisoners, sleep, sensory, water and food deprivation for extensive periods, falaka (beating of the soles of feet), "Palestinian hangings" (hanging by the arms), stress positions or forcing prisoners to stand for long durations, excessive exercise in extreme temperatures, stretching, squeezing or crushing of limbs and genitalia, piling of naked prisoners on top of each other, asphyxia and mock execution, electric shocks (specifically electrodes attached to genitals), burning with cigarettes, extraction of nails and healthy teeth, forcing prisoners to mix with prisoners with tuberculosis, sexual humiliation and assault, rectal examinations, forcing prisoners to beat / sexually humiliate / rape or urinate on each other, rape or threat of rape of prisoners, or relatives of prisoners in their presence by prison guards, violent forcing of truncheon rectally, forced feeding of rotten / contaminated food or feces, baths in prison sewers (referred to as "the disco" by the guards)."

Mehdi Zana, the former major of Diyarbakır, who spent eleven years in the prison, explains: "When a new prisoner arrived at the prison, Captain Esat met him at the entrance and then turned to a guard and said, ‘Prepare him a bath; then take him to the dormitory.’ This was a ritual. So almost twenty guards accompanied the prisoner. He received a good welcoming thrashing, and then he was dragged, unconscious, to the ‘bath,’ a bathtub full of shit in which they left him for a few hours. Sometimes they told him ‘Eat it now!’ Other times they put the new arrival naked on a stool above the excrement and left him there for two days in that pestilent and acidic odor. Or they took him, covered in shit, and threw him in a packed full cell. After a few hours, they came back to get him in order to lock him up again in the cell filled with excrement, and they left him there one or two nights. When he left the cell, because of the acidic emanations, he was pale, poisoned. Other times blindfolded, his hands tied, the prisoner was isolated for two days in a cell full of rats."

Some of the tortures based on testimonials of inmates are detailed below:

• Wolfhound Attack: When prisoners are stark naked, they are attacked by wolfhounds.
• Chain: Prisoners are connected to each other with a chain, 20 - 25 meters long, from their necks and they are told to run on opposite sides.
• Stretching: Legs of prisoners are hanged separately and stretched on opposite sides.
• Hill: 50 - 60 prisoners are brought to ventilation area and after the command "Get to the top!" they climb upon each other. One of the prisoners gets to the top and reads the ten verses of Turkish National Anthem by rote.
• Tower: Prisoners create circles with six people in each group. Then, other prisoners climb upon them. With the command "Fall down!" prisoners fell to the floor without the permission of defending their body parts.
• Beneath Bunk: Prisoners are ordered to get under the bunks and become invisible. Since wards are overcrowded, limbs or heads of prisoners are not fully beneath the bunks. Guards are beating their visible parts with either truncheons or clubs.
• Scales: Stark naked prisoners stand in one row in ventilation area. The first one in the row lies on his back. The second one in the row holds testicles and penis of the first one and tries to lift him. He is supposed to guess the weight of the one in front of him. All of the prisoners are enforced to take turns at this.
• Caravan: All of the prisoners stand in one row in ventilation area. Everybody gets atop the one in front of them and supposed to pull his ears. Then, they start to walk. This continues until they do not have strength to walk.
• Gallows: A prisoner is taken to the corridor and interrogated in a fake court in which guards play the role of a judge, prosecutor and lawyer. The court gives death penalty to the prisoner. A thick rope which cannot break neck bones is tied to the neck of the prisoner and he is hanged. The rope is untied when the prisoner is about to die.
• Truncheon Inserting: Guards dunk their truncheons to olive oil and plunge these into anuses of prisoners. Then, other prisoners or those violated lick these.
• Pull - Pull: Prisoners get stark naked and guards tie a rope to their penises. Guards run as fast as they can with rope in their hand and prisoners have to follow them.
• Sewer: Some toilets in isolation wards are clogged and full of feces. All of the sewer of wards and cells accumulate here and prisoners are taken into these cells and forced to eat feces.
• Reading Book: A prisoner is given a book and he is forced to read this word by word at the top of his voice while other prisoners repeat the book word by word. Prisoners have to stand on foot during this exercise.
• Memorizing Anthems: Prisoners had to memorize more than 50 Turkish National Anthems and sing them loudly until their vocal cords were irritated.
• When Saying "Die!": A prisoner is taken to ventilation area and he has to stand on foot rigidly. When a guard says "Die!", the prisoner has to fall to the floor without moving his joints.
• Smoking: There are several kinds of this torture. One of them is enforcing prisoners to smoke five cigarettes at the same time in one batch. Prisoners have to smoke these cigarettes without taking them out of the mouth until they are finished. When smoking is finished, prisoners are forced to eat these cigarettes including their filters. During this time, windows of ward are closed so that nobody can breathe easily.
• Bath: Prisoners are got stark naked and taken to bath in a single row. No soap is allowed within the bath. Prisoners take shower with pressurized water. Then, they are taken to corridor. With the command "Lie, crawl!" prisoners are taken to their wards by crawling.
• Enumeration: Prisoners are counted at least five times a day.
• Night Watch: During nights, two to seven (according to the number of prisoners within the ward) prisoners have to stand guard. Cruising guards come and order prisoners to put their hands out of loophole. Guards hit prisoners’ hands as much as they want.
• Locomotive: Prisoners are taken to ventilation area. Two of them are got stark naked. One of them bends down and the other hugs him. When guard calls "March!", these have to stroll in the area. Other prisoners are forced to watch them.
• Eating Feces: There is always a sewer - well in the middle of ventilation area. Prisoners are enforced to eat feces from the sewer by handfuls.
• Peeing: One prisoner is enforced to lie down in a ventilation area. Other prisoners are enforced to pee on him.
• Raping: Guards rape young prisoners. Also, prisoners are forced to rape each other.
• Hospital: The prison rules are valid in the hospital too. Prisoners are not taken to toilet and  are forced to lie in their beds without moving.
• Tuberculosis: Prisoners with tuberculosis are not isolated and kept with other prisoners. They have to eat from the same dishes and sleep under the same blankets. Their phlegms are collected and all of the prisoners are forced to eat food with phlegm.
• Standing on Feet: It was forbidden for prisoners to sit or lie down between 05:00 and 17:00 / 19:00. This was a daily routine.
• Ban of Speaking: It was forbidden for prisoners to speak to one another. It was also forbidden to laugh or seem to think of something. Violators experienced various of the physical tortures mentioned above.
• Night Raid: Guards enter the wards during midnight and beat prisoners with clubs and truncheons while they sleep.
• Beating during Lawyer - Family Visit: Prisoners are beaten when they are on their way to see their visitors. They are expected not to speak. Prisoners cannot talk to lawyers about anything but the plea.
• Beating during Court Visit: Prisoners are put on a hearse when they are taken to court. They are beaten on the way.
  

On September 24, 1996, the inmates of halls 18 and 29 had their visitation day with their families. The first group of inmates met with their loved ones and returned to their cells without incident. Then the second group of inmates were called. As they were walking to the visiting room, some among the group stopped before hall 35 and asked the inmates inside for a large container to carry their food to their cells. The guards told the inmates not to take the containers. The arguments that followed were settled between the inmate representatives and the guards. Despite the resolution of the problem, the chief guard decided to lock the inmates in the walk way. Thirty inmates with visitation rights and three inmates, who had visited the doctor and were on their way back to their cells were trapped in the walk way. They were kept there for about five hours.

During this period, the representatives of the inmates made attempts to resolve the impasse with the authorities but reached no conclusion. They asked that they be allowed to go back to their hall but made no headway. They told the guards to press charges on the inmates that had asked for the container but that did not alter the situation either. As this unfolded, some of the prison officials, among them the guards, began to verbally harass the inmates. The soldiers began shouting slogans. At about 3:30 p.m. in the afternoon the inmates were attacked on both entrances to the walk way. As the beating went on, many realized that this beating may result in their death.

According to the Secretary of the Diyarbakır Chamber of Medicine, Dr. Necdet İpekyüz, the following incidents occurred:

• There were 33 victims. Ten were dead. Ten injured ones were treated in Diyarbakır State Hospital and 13 injured inmates were transferred to the Gaziantep State Hospital.
• One of the inmates, who had been critically injured, died on the way to Gaziantep State Hospital.
• The first day we operated on three inmates. Now no one needs an operation.
• Three of the ten inmates, who were treated in Diyarbakır Prison are in critical condition.
• None of the casualties were the result of gun shots, cuts or penetrating wounds.
• All of the killings were the result of head injuries.
• The autopsy reports plus our conversations with the doctors, who operated on the patients, reveals that the victims had only head injuries.
• Since the incident only 72 hours have passed, therefore we can not now predict how many more of the injured may die.
• On the day of the incident, two prison guards visited the hospital at about 10:00 a.m. They had very light bruises. The doctors on duty did not know why these guards were sent to the hospital for such minor things.
• Just before the attack on the inmates, the hospital staff received a call from the district attorney¹s office. The staff was told to be ready for an emergency to receive a large group of injured inmates.

Ten prisoners lost their lives and eleven were critically injured.

PKK itself has claimed from time to time that the organization started to think of a guerrilla warfare against Turkish Armed Forces after the tortures that the leaders and members of the group experienced in the prison.