http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article1073597.eceAmerica closes abuse prisonAugust 29, 2006
By Ned Parker in Baghdad
THE prison that came to symbolise the abuse of Iraqis by US soldiers and the dark side of America’s war on terror has closed.
Prisoners have been transferred out of Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad, Wijdan Mikhail, the Iraqi Human Rights Minister, told The Times.
American Forces turned the prison over to the Iraqi authorities some time after removing the last prisoners on August 15, Busho Ibrahim, the country’s Deputy Justice Minister, said.
The US military confirmed that the transfer of nearly 3,000 detainees from Abu Ghraib to other prisons was planned, but refused to comment further. In March US officials had announced their plans to close the prison.
“We are currently in the process of transferring the Abu Ghraib facility back to the Government of Iraq,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Keir-Kevin Curry, the US military spokesman for detainee operations. “For operational security reasons, we would prefer not to discuss the actual timing of the operation until it is complete. This transfer will allow us to consolidate our effort at fewer sites and improve the conditions for both the coalition guards and the detainees.”
Mr Ibrahim said that the prisoners have already been moved to a new $60 million (£32 million) facility at the Camp Cropper detention centre, at Baghdad international airport. Camp Cropper already holds many high-ranking members of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2009/February/middleeast_February211.xml§ion=middleeast
US frees scores from Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison12 February 2009
BAGHDAD - The US military has released more than 100 prisoners from Abu Ghraib jail, which has been renamed Baghdad Central Prison, Iraqi officials said on Thursday.
The human rights ministry told AFP the 107 Iraqis were freed from the prison in west Baghdad on Wednesday under the US-Iraqi security pact that calls for American soldiers to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011.
A series of releases started on February 3 as a key part of the deal signed in November that provides for a gradual return of Iraqi sovereignty and a handover of security responsibilities. snip
Detainees are being released ‘who the US and the government of Iraq think no longer pose a threat to the security or stability of Iraq,’ US Brigadier General David Quantock, who is charge of the prisoners, said last week.