The government says it is trying to modernise the way prisons operate

Altun was the eighth person to die in the hunger strike this year, and was among more than 100 taking part.

Earlier this month another female protestor, Yeter Guzel, died in hospital after refusing food for seven months.

She had earlier been freed pending trial on charges of belonging to an illegal far-left group.

Protest

Left-wing prisoners - and some of their supporters - launched the hunger strikes in October 2000 in protest at the government's policy of moving inmates from large dormitories housing up to 100 people to small cells for up to three people.

They claim the cells make them isolated and vulnerable to abuse by guards.

But the Turkish Government counters that the large halls were virtual training camps for militants and a breeding ground of riots.

It has also consistently claimed that hunger strikers are pressed to fast by extremist political groups who maintain discipline within the prisons through intimidation.