During the Second Constitutional Period (1908-1918) prison reform became a major concern for the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), which spent vast sums of time and resources attempting to transform the empire’s decentralized prison system according to modern standards of centralization and state oversight. Horrific conditions and inadequate hygiene practices dominated the Ottoman Empire’s sprawling network of over a thousand prisons when the CUP initiated its penal reform programs in 1911. Based upon inspection reports, prison regulations, and administrative debates this paper investigates prison conditions and health reforms, particularly regarding health and hygiene in Ottoman prisons during the Second Constitutional Period in order to argue that prison health and hygiene were intrinsic concerns for the CUP. These prison reforms include the employment of doctors, the construction of hospitals, clinics, indoor washrooms and toilets, new hygiene regulations and practices, improved rationing and provisions, health check-ups, and disease tracking, treatment, and prevention. In fact, the CUP justified its overall prison reform program based on the fact that it was attempting to bring Ottoman prison health and hygiene standards “in conformity with the laws of civilization.” These efforts in the prison reflect broader societal and administrative concerns in the late Ottoman Empire regarding the state’s role in assuming greater responsibility for the welfare and protection of the empire’s citizenry, even the incarcerated.