After a climb of several metres up steel stairs, Cropper appears in front of you, like a fortress. Barbed wire surrounds high, thick walls. Inside, hundreds of lean-looking prisoners dressed in yellow move to the yards to pray, while others squat and chat. All the time, American soldiers circle the detainees.

Cropper, the largest detention centre in Iraq, is located a short distance from one of Saddam's palaces, near Baghdad International Airport. The last US jail in Iraq, it is scheduled to be handed over to the Iraqi government in July, following the handover of four notorious prisons: Abu Ghraib and Taji in Baghdad, Buka in Basra, Susa in Sulaimaniya.

Compared to the other facilities the Americans have used in Iraq, Cropper looks very different. It is far more heavily fortified for one thing. Inside, though, it is almost an identical copy of the other detention centres.

The prison is divided into Shiite and Sunni sectors, and detainees split again into three more groups based on the seriousness of their crimes. The radicals, described by the jailers as "dangerous", are put in the "Red Line".

The less radical detainees are put in the Yellow Line. There are big question marks over their history, according to prison officers. Finally, prisoners who are classified as suspects and not proven guilty, live in the Green Line.

The division is due to security necessities. Without it, the American officers say, they would face many problems.

“When we put the Shiites and Sunnis together, there were problems and fights between members of Al-Mahdi Army and radical Sunni groups. They would insult each other and there were also beatings,” says Col. Galvan, the commander of Unit 89, responsible for managing Cropper. “The only way to control the 2,500 prisoners here is by splitting them according to their religious affiliation and their level of radicalism.”

Still, problems to occur. Col. Moulay, commander of the 192 Military Police Battalion, which supervises the administration of the detainees says,

“Some detainees make weapons inside the prison which we find during inspections. Attempts are made to lure the prisoners to work with radicals, so we isolate the extremists from the moderate detainees to curb the terrorists’ training and learning in the camp, and when we discover the promoters of terrorism, we move them to the extremists section."

On arrival at the prison, prisoners give identity information and personal data. They swap their clothes possessions for prison clothes and a number.

"When detainees are brought in, they are subjected to psychological tests, through which we collect information to know their attitudes,” says Colonel Galvan. “If we reveal that a detainee is moderate, we rehabilitate him through teaching courses."

Part of that rehabilitation includes schoolwork as around 60% of those arrested are illiterate. Prisoners learn Arabic and the Koran and are taught be religious leaders how to interpret the book. Detainees also do vocational courses that teach them sewing or how to use computers so that they might be better placed to get a career when they get out. For participation in courses, prisoners are paid US$4 a day. Most give the money to their families when they visit them.

Visiting families are subject to tight security. Children and adults alike are inspected when they arrive.

“Families entering the place are subjected to precise inspection procedures,” says Moulay, “to ensure they do not bring in weapons or things that help prisoners to make weapon.”

When the families enter the visit hall, each family moves to the room where its relative appears, take the phone and talk with him from behind the muffler glass. Some detainees’ families come from abroad. The officers allow Iraqis and foreigners to meet their loved ones, as long as the Iraqi government allows them to enter the country.

Moderate detainees are allowed television and radio inside, although they must watch specific channels at specific times. They make telephone calls to their loved ones but their calls are monitored. On top of this, they are allowed to speak only a few sentences at a time.

The aim of the prison is to rehabilitate offenders, not to punish.

“After their release, some detainees have even work as interpreters with U.S. forces,” says Moulay. “Some worked with us on our own suggestion. Being former detainees does not prevent them from working with us and most who do have not been found guilty of crimes, so we have no problems dealing with them.”



(Photo by Khouloud Ramzi / Baghdad)