Where do you start?
When the call comes, everything feels urgent at once — where are they, are they safe, who do we speak to, what happens next. It helps to break the fear into four questions. Each has an answer, and each answer has a first step you can take today.
Where is my relative, and what stage are they at?
Confirming the prison, and telling remand from a conviction — the two facts everything else depends on.
Start here → 02 · Reach themHow do I visit, call, and send money?
Getting on the visitor list, the phone programme, and putting money on their canteen account.
Start here → 03 · Their rightsA lawyer, an interpreter, the consulate
The rights a detained foreign national has from the first hour — and how you use them from abroad.
Start here → 04 · The road outTransfer home, release, or deportation
Serving the sentence at home, challenging detention, and what happens at the border afterwards.
See the routes →Finding your relative and understanding where they stand
Two facts shape everything that follows: which prison your relative is in, and whether they are a remand prisoner or a convicted one. A Türkiye-bar lawyer can confirm both quickly by checking the case through the courts and the institution, and your relative's consulate can often help locate them too.
In Istanbul, most foreign detainees pass through one institution: Maltepe No. 3 (3 No'lu L Tipi), the closed prison in the Maltepe campus that holds foreign nationals from more than ninety countries. Our guide explains what the prison is, how to confirm your relative is there, and how contact works.
The other fact — remand versus convicted — decides which doors are open. Someone still awaiting trial (a remand prisoner, tutuklu) is fighting the case itself; someone already sentenced (hükümlü) is looking at release, transfer, or the end of the term. If you don't yet know which applies, start with the criminal process for foreigners, which walks the whole path from arrest to appeal.
Reaching them: visits, calls, money and letters
Staying in contact is not only comfort — it is how you and your relative stay informed and make decisions together. Three practical guides cover it:
- Visiting. Who may visit, how to get onto the approved list, the difference between open and closed visits, and the priority foreign visitors are often given. See visiting a relative in a Turkish prison.
- Calls, money and letters. The telephone programme (yes, calls abroad are usually possible), how money reaches the canteen account, and what you can send. See sending money, letters and calls to an inmate.
Their rights — and how you use them from abroad
A detained foreign national in Türkiye has real, enforceable rights from the very first hour: a defence lawyer, the right to stay silent, a free interpreter if they don't speak Turkish, and the right to have their consulate told and to be visited by it. Inside prison, meetings with a defence lawyer are confidential and cannot ordinarily be blocked. The hard part is exercising these rights across a border — and that is the part a family can act on immediately, by appointing a Türkiye-bar lawyer under a power of attorney without anyone travelling. The full picture is in the lawyer and consular rights of a detainee, and our criminal defence practice is where that representation lives.
The road out: transfer, release and deportation
How the story ends depends on the stage — but for a family, three routes matter most, and it is worth knowing them early rather than late.
The case itself
For a remand prisoner, the fight is the case: bail-style release, judicial control instead of detention, and the defence. This is criminal defence work.
Serving the sentence at home
A convicted prisoner may be able to transfer to their own country to serve the rest of the term. The conditions and the honest limits are in the transfer guide.
Deportation at the end
A sentence can be followed by removal and a re-entry ban — with a short, strict window to challenge it. See deportation and entry ban after a sentence and our deportation practice.
What working with Lexin actually looks like
- Tell us what happened. A name, a date, a city, and whatever documents you have. We tell you, in plain English, what we can find out and what the realistic next steps are.
- Sign a power of attorney. Prepared in Turkish format and scoped to the matter, signed at a Turkish consulate near you or before a local notary with an apostilleApostilApostilleA certificate added to a public document in its own country so that it is accepted as genuine in Türkiye, without consular legalisation.Glossary → — so you need not fly to Türkiye.
- A lawyer goes in. An Istanbul Bar attorney confirms where your relative is, meets them confidentially, and reads the file — then explains the stage and the options.
- You stay informed. Updates at every real milestone, in your language, on your side of the world.
On fees and honesty: the basis for our fees goes into writing before we begin, within the rules that govern Turkish attorneys, and we will tell you frankly what a route can and cannot achieve. No one can promise a particular outcome in a criminal matter, and anyone who does is not being straight with you. What a lawyer can do is make sure your relative's rights are used, the deadlines are met, and every available route is properly considered.
If your relative is being held in Türkiye, tell us what happened — you will get a clear, honest read on where things stand and what you can do next.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find out which Turkish prison my relative is being held in?
The two reliable routes are a lawyer registered with a bar in Türkiye and your relative's consulate. A Türkiye-bar lawyer can check the national case system to confirm the charge or sentence and where the person is held; once notified, the consulate can usually confirm the detention. Families abroad rarely get this by calling the prison directly, especially across a language barrier. In Istanbul, foreign nationals are frequently held at Maltepe No. 3.
Can a lawyer visit my relative if I am abroad?
Yes. You can appoint a Türkiye-bar lawyer under a power of attorney signed at a Turkish consulate near you or before a local notary with an apostille, without travelling. Meetings between a detainee and their defence lawyer are confidential, and for a remand prisoner they cannot be prevented or restricted (Law No. 5275). The lawyer can see your relative, read the file and report back to you.
Is Maltepe prison only for foreign nationals?
Maltepe No. 3 (3 No'lu L Tipi) is the institution in Istanbul's Maltepe campus where foreign nationals are concentrated — people from more than 90 countries — so it is often called the foreigners' prison. In practice it is predominantly, though not exclusively, foreign; it also holds a smaller number of Turkish nationals.
Can my relative serve their sentence in our home country?
Sometimes. A convicted prisoner may apply to transfer home to serve the rest of the sentence, under the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons (1983) and Türkiye's Law No. 6706. It requires a final conviction, dual criminality, and the consent of the prisoner and of both states, so it is never guaranteed — but where the conditions are met it is a real route. Transfer does not reduce the sentence; the home country administers what remains.
Will my relative be deported after the sentence?
A prison sentence can be followed by a deportation decision and a re-entry ban under the Law on Foreigners and International Protection (No. 6458). The decision can be challenged before the administrative court within seven days of notification, and filing that case suspends the removal until the court rules — so the timing is tight and acting quickly matters.
Can you guarantee that my relative will be released?
No, and you should be cautious of anyone who does. No lawyer can promise a particular outcome in a criminal matter. What a lawyer can do is make sure your relative's rights are used from the first hour, that deadlines are met, and that every available route — defence, release, transfer or a deportation appeal — is properly pursued. Our fee basis is put in writing before we begin.
