Inmates Tell of Sexual Abuse and Beatings in Iraq's Overcrowded Juvenile Prison System

Inmates Tell of Sexual Abuse and Beatings in Iraq's Overcrowded Juvenile Prison System
Children as young as nine held in sweltering cells

by Jonathan Steele

Hundreds of children, some as young as nine, are being held in appalling conditions in Baghdad's prisons, sleeping in sweltering temperatures in overcrowded cells without working fans, no daily access to showers, and subject to frequent sexual abuse by guards, current and former prisoners say.


The prison currently holds 315 children, while its capacity is 250. (Photograph: Marwan Naamani/AFP)

At Karkh juvenile prison, Omar Ali, a 16-year-old who has spent more than three years there, showed the multiple skin sores he and many other fellow inmates have contracted through lying on thin, sweat-soaked mattresses night after night.

"The electricity comes from a generator and it's only switched on during the two-hour weekly session when visitors come in, and for two or three hours in the evening. We are convinced the guards sell the generator fuel on the black market," he said

Daytime temperatures in Baghdad last week averaged 44C (112F). They barely drop below 38C at night. Water supplies in Karkh are spasmodic, and Omar said he was able to shower only once every three days. Boys sleep in four dormitories, averaging 75 inmates in a cell about 5 metres by 10 metres, on double bunks or the concrete floor.

Guards often take boys to a separate room in the prison and rape them, Omar alleged. They also break prison rules by lending their mobile phones to boys to ring home, on condition that each time their families top the phone up by $10 or $20. The teaching staff resigned en masse in November because of low pay, according to an international official. As a result, the children lounge around aimlessly with no daytime activities, other than an exercise yard.

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http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/09/08-0

damage the environment, traumatize both adults and children, and forget about clean-up of the mess left behind. Remember Cambodia and the "dirty wars" in South America?

My shame of our country grows each day.

"Pro-Life" Palin doesn't even care to know about these kids, I'm sure. :puke:

Thanks for trying, Sis! :hi:

How sad. Simply heartbreaking.