In Baghdad juvenile jail, inmates few but most recount beatings

In Baghdad juvenile jail, inmates few but most recount beatings
By Ken Dilanian
Knight Ridder Newspapers

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Omar Moyod, 17, says Iraqi police officers beat him savagely, hung him in painful positions and threatened to rape his mother until he agreed to sign a false confession to murder.

The American advisers who work at Baghdad's juvenile prison, where Moyod is being held, find his story credible. They likewise believe several other teenagers in their custody who tell similarly horrific tales.

Brightly painted, well-staffed and humane, the Karkh Juvenile Detention Facility is a telling example of what the U.S.-led occupation has been able to accomplish in Iraq - and what it hasn't.

The Coalition Provisional Authority and the U.S. Army, with help from Justice Department advisers and U.S. contractors with juvenile justice backgrounds, built the facility in an old police detention center. It's the only juvenile prison in Baghdad, and recently it held 113 inmates.

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