By Lennox Samuels
Karim Kadim / AP
Iraq has opened a prison that its operators say will be an example of enlightened and modern incarceration. The freshly painted walls are almost sunny and the facilities include a library, gym, computer room and health care center. It is hard to imagine that this lockup, called Baghdad Central Prison, was previously Abu Ghraib, a global symbol of abuse and human rights violations.
Five years ago TV and newspapers flashed images around the globe of U.S. soldiers gleefully assaulting and sexually humiliating Iraqi detainees in the prison on the western edge of Baghdad. The photos, circulated in April 2004, stunned the world, deepened anti-American sentiment in Iraq and stiffened opposition against the war. The prison closed in 2006.
The renovated facility, opened at the weekend with something akin to fanfare, seems more like a minimum-security detention center than a warehouse for hardened criminals or terrorists. That was the intent, say Iraqi officials, who have assumed control from the U.S. Indeed, Mohammed al-Zeidi, an official with the Iraq Rehabilitation Department suggests that it is almost resort-like. Spokeswoman Fayha Shukri talks about the detainee-to-room ratio the way school principals talk about student-to-teacher ratios. Rooms will have eight beds, compared with 30 beds in the Saddam Hussein days, she says.
The Saddam comparison is appropriate, because long before U.S. Army Specialists Charles Graner and Lynndie England were captured on film terrorizing inmates, the late Iraqi dictator used the prison to torture and kill many of his own people. “Our ministry has rehabilitated a big part of Abu Ghraib prison,” says Fayha, referring to the Ministry of Justice, which now operates the place. No longer will the jail be a dumping ground for people merely suspected--whether by American or Iraqi authorities--of being guilty of something. It will house mostly those who have been tried and sentenced, the spokeswoman explains.
About 400 inmates reside in Baghdad Central Prison, whose current capacity is 3,000. Plans call for more renovations on the 280-acre site, with capacity eventually growing to12,000. The Iraqis will need the space: They will soon take custody of 15,000 more detainees from the U.S. military. For now, though, the small population will get to savor refurbished quarters. Illiterate inmates will be taught how to read and write in new classrooms. They will be able to pray in a small mosque. They even will be able to take sewing classes.
In 2004 and 2005, courts martial convicted seven U.S. soldiers of such offenses as battery and dereliction of duty. They were dishonorably discharged and sentenced to federal prison. Graner and England received sentences of 10 years and three years, respectively. A brigadier general, Janis Karpinski, was demoted to colonel. Some members of Congress and various officials called for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld, defense secretary at the time. Many still say that people in higher positions should have been punished.
At the time, Bush administration officials were taken to task for parsing the Geneva Conventions while insisting they did not condone torture. As the Iraqis now give tours of upgraded dining facilities and greenhouses at the new and improved Baghdad Central Prison, they pledge that they will abide by international norms on detainee treatment.
