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Washington Post New Detainees Strain Iraq's Jails
Sharp Rise Follows Start of Security Plan; Suspects Housed With Convicts
By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, May 15, 2007; Page A01
BAGHDAD -- The capture of thousands of new suspects under the three-month-old Baghdad security plan has overwhelmed the Iraqi government's detention system, forcing hundreds of people into overcrowded facilities, according to Iraqi and Western officials.
Nearly 20,000 people were in Iraqi-run prisons, detention camps, police stations and other holding cells as of the end of March, according to a U.N. report issued last month, an increase of more than 3,500 from the end of January. The U.S. military said late last week that it was holding about 19,500 detainees, up more than 3,000 since the U.S. and Iraqi governments began implementing the security plan in mid-February.
Estimates of those inside Iraqi facilities, where reports of beatings and torture are common, vary widely because detainees are dispersed among hundreds of locations run by different ministries. The U.S. military holds detainees at two main centers, Camp Bucca in southern Iraq and Camp Cropper near Baghdad, and officials say they are committed to avoiding the abuses that occurred at the Abu Ghraib prison following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Iraq's prisons for convicted criminals are managed by the Justice Ministry, but because of crowding in Iraqi army detention centers, authorities have transferred many untried detainees to live with convicts.
"We made some space for them, but now our space is full," said Deputy Justice Minister Pusho Ibrahim Ali Daza Yei. Referring to the military, he added, "This is their problem, not mine."
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/14/AR2007051402265.html
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