Mahkûm Olunan Hapis Cezasının Koşullu Salıverilme Öncesinde Denetimli Serbestlik Tedbiri Uygulanarak İnfazı Bakımından 7242 Sayılı Kanun’la Yapılan Değişikliklerin Bir Nedeni Olarak Covid-19

“Execution of sentence of imprisonment by application of probation measures before conditional release” has entered into our legal system with the article 105/A titled “execution of the sentence by application of probation measures”, which was added to the Law No. 5275 by the Law No. 6291, dated 5 April 2012. Thus, it has become possible for a convict, who serves her/his prison sentence in the penal institution, to leave the institution before the provisions of conditional release have yet been applied. The part of the sentence, until the date of the conditional release, of a convict who benefits from this provision is executed by allowing her/him to remain in the community by application of probation measures, instead of being in the penal institution. As was done by various laws before, some permanent and temporary amendments were made with regard to the execution of sentence of imprisonment by application of probation measures by the Law No. 7242 which entered into force by being published in the Official Gazette on 15 April 2020. On the other hand, the Bill, which forms the basis of the Law No. 7242, was proposed on 31 March 2020. However, the first COVID-19 case in our country was announced by the Ministry of Health on 11 March 2020 and the Minister of Health declared on 1 April 2020 that the virus in question had spread to all provinces. Therefore, the Law No. 7242, which brought about many discussions and criticisms, was adopted and put into effect at the very time when precautions were being taken against the pandemic. The urgent adoption of Law No. 7242 at such a time conjures up the question of whether this hurry was due to COVID-19. In this paper, it is examined whether the amendments, made in the Law No. 5275 by the Law No.7242, regarding the execution of sentence of imprisonment by application of probation measures before conditional release are due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the regulations related to the pandemic are discussed.