Soganlik Prison near Istanbul

Soganlik Prison near Istanbul is a harsh, corrupt institution whose rules and isolation shape a decisive reversal in the Solomon family’s story: Peter Solomon refuses to pay for Zachary Solomon’s release, and a fellow prisoner turns that refusal into an opportunity to escape with Zachary’s fortune. The prison is not merely a place of confinement; its failures make a private scheme possible and conceal its consequences.

Setting and Conditions

The prison is described as brutal. Inmate 37 is held there on drug-related charges, in a cement cell where he lies hungry and cold. The administrator controls the nighttime routine, turning off the lights, while the institution’s rules prevent visitors from seeing newly arrived prisoners during their first month.

Those rules are presented alongside an administrator willing to bend them for money. He tells Peter Solomon that a donation could speed up Zachary’s extradition and proposes arranging his release, with the charges dropped. The contrast between official procedure and private bargaining makes the prison’s authority appear both restrictive and purchasable.

Peter Solomon’s Visit

Peter comes to the prison seeking news of his son and asks whether Zachary is safe and being treated well. When the administrator offers to secure Zachary’s immediate release in exchange for a payment, Peter refuses. He says he will not teach his son that money solves every problem or removes accountability, particularly in a serious matter. He asks instead to speak with Zachary, but the administrator says that is impossible unless Peter negotiates the release.

Peter ends the exchange by warning that the U.S. State Department will be in contact and insisting that Zachary be kept safe and sent home within the week. The scene makes the prison’s visitor restrictions consequential: Peter is close enough to address the person controlling his son’s circumstances, but he cannot reach Zachary directly.

Inmate 37’s Scheme

Inmate 37 overhears the conversation through the ventilation shaft. He is struck by Peter’s refusal to pay and reasons that Zachary, unlike his father, has access to substantial wealth. The following day, he privately proposes a plan to the administrator: Zachary will die, and both conspirators will disappear. The administrator accepts, and the agreement converts the prison’s corrupt bargaining into a plot against the prisoner they are meant to hold.

Two days later, the Solomon family receives the news of Zachary’s death. The account presented to them identifies the missing prison administrator as the prime suspect and connects the disappearance to the transfer of Zachary’s fortune into a numbered account, which is emptied after his death. Inmate 37, however, knows that the administrator will not be found: he has arranged the man’s disappearance and taken the money for himself.

Consequences and Narrative Significance

Peter travels to Turkey and returns with his son’s casket for burial in the Solomon family cemetery. At the time, the family is left with a death, a vanished administrator, and an untraceable fortune. The prison’s closed and compromised system has made the conspiracy difficult to see from outside and has allowed Inmate 37 to escape with a new identity and wealth.

The episode also establishes the origin of the man who later becomes Mal’akh. Soganlik Prison is where the future Mal’akh observes the Solomon family’s vulnerability and begins the scheme that frees him. Peter’s refusal is an attempt to hold Zachary accountable, but within the prison it is recast by Inmate 37 as a vulnerability to exploit; that gap between Peter’s intention and the prisoner’s interpretation gives the location its lasting importance in the plot.