Abu Ghraib Prison
Abu Ghraib prison cell block in 2005
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| Location | Abu Ghraib, Baghdad Province |
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| Coordinates | 33°17′30″N 44°3′56″E / 33.29167°N 44.06556°ECoordinates: 33°17′30″N 44°3′56″E / 33.29167°N 44.06556°E |
| Status | Defunct |
| Capacity | 15,000 |
| Former name | Abu Ghraib prison |
| Country | Iraq |
The Baghdad Central Prison (Arabic: سجن بغداد المركزي Sijn Baġdād al-Markizī), formerly known as Abu Ghraib prison (Arabic: سجن أبو غريب Sijn Abū Ghurayb; also Abu Ghuraib, lit. 'Father of Raven', or 'Place of Ravens') was a prison complex in Abu Ghraib, an Iraqi city 32 km (20 mi) west of Baghdad.
After years of shared use by United States-led forces and the Iraqi government beginning in 2003 after the invasion of Iraq, the U.S. transferred complete control of the prison to the Iraqi government in 2006 and Iraq closed it down in 2014.
The prison was built by British contractors in the 1950s. The prison held as many as 15,000 inmates in 2001. In 2002, Saddam Hussein's government began an expansion project to add six new cellblocks to the prison. In October 2002, he gave amnesty to most prisoners in Iraq. After the prisoners were released and the prison was left empty, it was vandalized and looted. Almost all of the documents relating to prisoners were piled and burnt inside of prison offices and cells, leading to extensive structural damage.
Known mass-graves related to Abu Ghraib include:
Until August 2006, the site known as the Abu Ghraib prison was used for detention purposes by both the U.S.-led coalition occupying Iraq and the Iraqi government. The Iraqi government has controlled the area of the facility known as "The Hard Site". The prison was used to house only convicted criminals. Suspected criminals, insurgents or those arrested and awaiting trial were held at other facilities, commonly known as "camps" in U.S. military parlance. The U.S. housed all its detainees at "Camp Redemption", which is divided into five security levels. This camp built in the summer of 2004 replaced the three-level setup of Camp Ganci, Camp Vigilant and Abu Ghraib's Tier 1. The remainder of the facility was occupied by the U.S. military.
Abu Ghraib served as both a FOB (Forward Operating Base) and a detention facility. When the U.S. military was using the Abu Ghraib prison as a detention facility, it housed approximately 7,490 prisoners there in March 2004. Later population of detainees was much smaller, because Camp Redemption had a much smaller capacity than Camp Ganci had, and many detainees have been sent from Abu Ghraib to Camp Bucca for this reason. The U.S. military initially held all "persons of interest" in Camp Redemption. Some were suspected rebels, and some suspected criminals. Those convicted by trial in Iraqi court are transferred to the Iraqi-run Hard Site.
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