News 2005

U.S. plans to expand its prisons in Iraq
June 28, 2005

By FRANK GRIFFITHS-ASSOCIATED PRESS:

The U.S. military said Monday it plans to expand its prisons across Iraq to hold as many as 16,000 people, as the insurgency shows no sign of letup a year after the transfer of sovereignty to Iraqi authorities.

The prison population at three military complexes throughout the country -- Abu Ghraib, Camp Bucca and Camp Cropper -- has nearly doubled from 5,435 in June 2004 to 10,002, said Lt. Col. Guy Rudisill, a spokesman for detainee operations in Iraq. Some 400 non-Iraqis are among the inmates, according to the military.

"We are past the normal capacity for both Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca. We are at surge capacity," Rudisill said. "We are not at normal capacity for Camp Cropper."

The burgeoning prison population has led the U.S. military to begin renovations on existing facilities, and work has also begun on restoring an old Iraqi military barracks near Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles northeast of Baghdad.

The facility, to be called Ft. Suse, is expected to be completed by Sept. 30 and will have room for 2,000 prisoners, Rudisill said.

All renovations should be done by February and are expected to make room for 16,000 people in Iraq, he said.

Two weeks ago, the military completed a 400-prisoner compound at Abu Ghraib, which the U.S. government sought to tear down after it became a symbol of an abuse scandal. It was kept in use after the Iraqi government objected. A new compound of the same size should be finished by the end of July at Abu Ghraib, Rudisill said.

The spokesman attributed the rise in the number of prisoners to "successful ongoing military operations against the insurgency and terrorists."

 

Source Link: http://www.freep.com/news/nw/iraq28e_20050628.htm