Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=8/4/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ / PRISON (L-O)

NUMBER=2-306162

BYLINE=DALE GAVLAK

DATELINE=BAGHDAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Coalition forces have re-opened a once much-feared prison on the outskirts of Baghdad to house both criminals and security detainees in Iraq. As V-O-A's Dale Gavlak reports from Baghdad, military officials say they hope the newly renovated facility and better treatment of prisoners will help to dispel past horrors.

TEXT: ///ACT OF GRAVEL, EST. & FADE UNDER///

It's a long, gravelly stretch of road down to one of the most feared places outside of Baghdad. Once, just uttering the words, "Abu Gharib prison," would invoke fear of terror in the hearts of Iraqis. That's because those who entered the huge jail facility, located 50-kilometers west of Baghdad, under Saddam Hussein' regime rarely left it alive.

///ACT OF DRILLING, EST. & FADE UNDER///

Coalition military officials say it was a hard choice, but in the end there were no other options but to take the prison, refurbish it, and rename it as Central Baghdad Prison. The first wing of the jail is set to open within two weeks.

Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, who is responsible for prisons in Iraq, says she hopes the facility will get a fresh start.

///KARPINSKI ACT///

We cannot account for all the dark shadows that will be lingering over this place and that's exactly why we are calling it an interim facility. It was the facility with the largest capacity.

///END ACT///

General Karpinski says building a new facility would take two to three years. She says the military discussed the reopening of Abu Gharib with a lot of people, including relatives of those once held there.

///2nd KARPINSKI ACT///

They thought, they understood that it was better to get the criminal element off the streets into a facility like this that could house them than the other option which would be delaying arresting people until we could find an appropriate facility.

///END ACT///

Military officials say about 500 detainees are currently living in a dusty tent camp pitched on the grounds of the jail. Fewer than 100 of those are held for their alleged links to the former regime or on suspicion of taking part in attacks on coalition forces. There are a total of three to four hundred such security detainees worldwide.

Military sources say a wall is being built to separate the execution chamber once used by Saddam to eliminate his opponents from the rest of the prison.

///START OPT/// First Sergeant Daryl Keithly says the area will become a memorial and museum to those who perished there. The officer says many prisoners, such as Hassan Mouad who was executed on November 17, 1999, scribbled their names on the cells' walls in order to be remembered.

///KEITHLY ACT///

That was their last opportunity so that somebody would actually know what had happened to them. That they were there. Kind of like their last rites. Also there are other inscriptions. But it is mainly written on the wall by people who had given their names so that somebody would find them someday.

///END ACT///END OPT///

Coalition officials say the jail once held as many as 20 thousand prisoners, and, on one day, up to two thousand executions were carried out. (Signed)

NEB/DG/MAR/MEM