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Engineers facilitate Iraqi detainee release

By Sgt. Dan Purcell
September 23, 2004

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, Sept. 23, 2004) -- About 200 former prisoners from Abu-Ghraib prison stepped off buses to a welcome committee of local sheiks and members of the Iraqi media Sept. 15 in Baghdad.

The former prisoners, charged with various crimes, were part of the detainee release program that was facilitated by the 91st Engineer Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division.

As each former prisoner disembarked the bus, his identification was verified and each was met by a sheik or sheiks from his community who play a pivotal part in the lives of the Iraqi people.

"The sheiks are here to welcome them back into the community and to act as guarantors that certify these individuals will not commit future crimes against the Iraqi people or the Multi-National Forces," said Lt. Col. Christopher Martin, 91st ENG commander.

The detainees were each given $25 to help get them started.

"After they've been identified and greeted by the sheiks, they then walk out the gate where they are met by members of their family. The whole process takes about an hour," said Capt. Marc Chung, a 425th Civil Affairs Battalion team leader.

Following the detainee release, the sheiks and the media attended a press conference with Lt. Col. Martin.

"There is a perception amongst the sheiks and the Iraqis that we are arresting innocent people, and it is something that they tend to focus on," Martin said. "The point we have to make is that they are not innocent people but people who have had their files reviewed by Iraqi judges who have decided that they have spent enough time in jail based on the crime they committed."

According to Martin, the Iraqis don't have a formal court system that sentences a person to jail for a specific period of time, like the United States does. In Iraq, a prisoner's file is reviewed periodically by a board of judges who make sure that the individual does not serve more time than the level of crime he committed and the law allows.

"We are here to facilitate the handing over of these men to the sheiks so they can be reintegrated into their respective communities, and to show that we have been working with the sheiks all along." Martin said.

(Editor's note: Sgt. Dan Purcell is assigned to the 122nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.)