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V CORPS AND IRAQI POLICE REOPEN BAGHDAD JAIL

V Corps News Release

Release Date: 5/21/2003

By Spc. Kristopher Joseph 18th Military Police Brigade Public Affairs Office

BAGHDAD, IRAQ -- Representatives of V Corps' 18th Military Police Brigade and Iraqi police officials shared a milestone in their efforts to restore law and order here with the official reopening today of the first fully operational jail in downtown Baghdad since the demise of Saddam Hussein's rule.

Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, head of the Organization for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance and the senior coalition official in Iraq, joined the V Corps and Iraqi police officials in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the facility this morning.

The result of a joint effort between the 18th MPs and Iraqi citizens, the newly named Al Kardt Jail took only 10 days to complete. Brigade Command Sgt. Maj. Charles E. Guyette and the brigade's maintenance officer, Chief Warrant Officer 4 David Ward, spearheaded the project that coincides with the unit's continuing effort to rebuild the Iraqi police force and reestablish law and order here.

Brigade Commander Col. Ted R. Spain said the new jail is a "symbol of the future criminal justice system of the Iraqi people." He said the relationship between U.S. MPs and the Iraqi police continues to grow as the two law enforcement groups conduct joint police patrols and ongoing meetings to share ideas about the best ways to keep criminals off the streets.

"They are just like the police officers on the streets of the United States," said Spain of the Iraqi officers. "They want to do an honest day's work and they want to get paid for it so they can feed their families."

Giving tours of the jail to guests at today's ceremony, Ward said he was "shocked and horrified" at the condition of the lock-up before renovation. "It was tough," he said. "There was blood on the walls and the place looked like it was blown up."

Ward and Guyette directly employed local electricians and painters, and bought cleaning supplies for the renovation from the Iraqi economy. They also hired Iraqis who live adjacent to the jail to help in the clean-up. "It gives them a sense of responsibility to rebuild their own country," Ward said.

The jail, which can hold up to 100 detainees, is expected to house prisoners in less than a week. Any criminals brought to the jail will have been tried by the Iraqi court system, which the brigade also helped reopen recently. Once prisoners are brought in, Iraqi police will control the jail.

Some reports here claim that Iraqi citizens do not trust the Iraqi police force because of its ties to the former regime. During the reign of Saddam Hussein, police had to claim allegiance to his Baath party to gain employment on the force. Now Iraqi police officials and the 18th MPs screen potential officers, as well as those police returning to duty.

"I understand about (the reputation of the Iraqi police), and I told them it is very important for the Iraqi citizens to respect them, not to fear them," Spain said. "I told them they have to earn the respect, that respect would not be given to them. I told them that they do that by treating all the Iraqi citizens with dignity and respect."

V Corps, with the 18th MPs in the lead, is continuing to establish a functional criminal justice and detention system here. Under the banner of Task Force Vigilant Justice, a group composed of U.S. military police, Baghdad police officers and military prosecutors, the corps is making an aggressive effort to fight serious crime in Baghdad.

The task force conducted its first raid May 19, targeting a café in the Kadhimyah neighborhood here. Fifteen suspects were detained and eight AK-47 rifles, several forged passports and identity documents, narcotics and more than 30 million Iraqi dinars were seized. The suspects are being held pending a magistrate's determination of whether they are involved in the illegal arms trade.

To date, V Corps has returned more than 7,000 Iraqi police to duty; conducted dozens of joint patrols with Iraqi police, and reopened more than 20 police stations. They currently have plans to open three more jails here, which will provide two on each side of the Tigris River, along with one prison.