VZCZCXRO5837
PP RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK RUEHMOS
DE RUEHBC #0077/01 1360912
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P R 160912Z MAY 06
FM REO BASRAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0342
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHBC/REO BASRAH 0361

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BASRAH 000077 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  5/16/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR KJUS IZ
SUBJECT: BLEAK BUT IMPROVING - PRISON CONDITIONS IN SOUTHERN IRAQ 
 
BASRAH 00000077  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Ken Gross, Regional Coordinator, REO Basrah, 
Department of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  Prison conditions in southern Iraq are 
comparable to those of a poor third world country -- bleak and 
dismal.  However, real progress has been made, and despite 
political pressure the Regional Director of Prisons for southern 
Iraq is committed to improving prison and related human rights 
conditions in the four correction facilities that he oversees. 
The two main issues of concern are the housing women and 
juveniles in the same facilities as the adult male population 
and the deteriorating facilities.  Iraqis working in corrections 
continue to cooperate with Coalition Forces, seeking assistance 
and guidance despite recent disengagement by some provincial 
governments.  End summary. 
 
PRISONS IN THE SOUTH 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (U) There are currently five Ministry of Justice (MoJ) 
detention facilities in the four southern provinces of Basrah, 
Maysan, Muthanna and Dhi Qar and one MNF-I theater-level 
detention facility called Camp Bucca.  One new prison is being 
constructed with U.S. Government funds, and the MoJ has proposed 
building a new prison but awaits final approval and funding. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Basrah province is home to the Al Maqel and Al Minah 
prisons and Camp Bucca.  Al Maqel prison houses approximately 
300 inmates, and Al Minah prison has approximately 400 inmates; 
the detention facility at Camp Bucca holds approximately  9,000 
detainees.  Maysan province's prison, Al Amarah, houses 
approximately 500 inmates.  Nasiriyah prison in Dhi Qar province 
has approximately 450 inmates, and Samawah prison in Muthanna 
province is home to approximately 250 inmates. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The U.S. Government is funding construction of a new 
prison in Nasiriyah, which when completed in 2007, will hold 800 
inmates, almost doubling the capacity of the current prison. 
There is a proposal to build a new prison in Basrah that would 
house all of the inmates currently in the Al Maqel and Al Minah 
prisons.  The proposed prison would hold approximately 1,200 
inmates (more than the combined total of the two existing 
prisons).  The site has been identified and existing buildings 
on the site need renovation and must be converted to a detention 
facility, but that should not be a major construction project. 
The delay in moving ahead with approval involves transferring 
the title of the land to the MoJ.  Almost every contact poloff 
spoke with lamented the holdup in opening the new prison and 
expressed how urgently it is needed. 
 
IN CHARGE AND NOT BOWING TO PRESSURE 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶5.  (U) The Regional Director of Prisons, Mazzin Afal Maniam 
Jabbar, oversees all of the prisons under MoJ control in the 
four southern provinces.  Leadership within the prisons consists 
of a warden, deputy warden and an administrative manager.  Very 
little autonomy is given to the leadership within the prisons, 
and the MoJ in Baghdad determines the selection of candidates 
for these positions after reviewing recommendations from the 
Regional Director.  The Regional Director works very closely 
with the Director General of Iraqi Corrections Facilities based 
in Baghdad and with the MoJ. 
 
¶6.  (C) In a meeting with REO poloff, Mazzin said that Basrah is 
the most difficult of the four provinces in terms of oversight 
because of political pressure and, as he put it, people trying 
to interfere in his work.  The main culprit is the Governor of 
Basrah, Mohammed Moassibh al-Wa'eli.  According to Mazzin, the 
Governor tried to pressure Mazzin to allow him to recruit prison 
guards for the prison at Camp Bucca and has repeatedly tried to 
have prisoners released without proper documentation.  Mazzin 
said that he knows of the Governor's past and present criminal 
activities and said to poloff, "Can you imagine what he would do 
if he were in control of 1,500 prison guards at Bucca?"  Mazzin 
stressed to poloff that as the Regional Director of the four 
provinces, the Governor had no authority over him and he takes 
his orders directly from Baghdad. 
 
¶7.  (C) Comment:  Mazzin is genuine in his efforts to improve 
the conditions in the prisons in his domain.  Backed by a solid 
reputation and support from the MoJ and the religious community 
in Basrah, he maintains the ability and authority to do his job 
without political influence.  Although his life is directly 
threatened on a regular basis and his affiliation with MNF-I is 
constantly used against him by his critics, Mazzin vows to 
continue to do his job to the best of his ability and improve 
the corrections facilities for both the prisoners and the staff 
 
BASRAH 00000077  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
that work in them.  He said that with the help of the United 
States and the United Kingdom, the prison system in the south 
has made significant improvements.  Though he is often called a 
traitor and an agent of the Coalition, he understands the 
assistance and expertise the Coalition can provide to him to 
improve the conditions in prisons.  End comment. 
 
CURRENT CHALLENGES 
----------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Poloff discussed the state of prisons and related 
human rights issues with various local Iraqi contacts, including 
Mazzin, Mahdi al-Timimi, Director General of Human Rights (DGHR) 
for southern Iraq, Imam Hasneen al-Safi, member of the Basrah 
Provincial Council (BPC) and focal point for human rights for 
the Basrah Provincial Reconstruction and Development Committee, 
and Bassam al-Timimi, chief of a human rights NGO.  Poloff also 
received input from the REO corrections advisor. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) The main concern expressed by all contacts was the 
lack of separate facilities for women and juveniles.  Women and 
juveniles are held in the same facilities with the adult male 
population in all of the MoJ controlled facilities.  This 
co-habitation is difficult on many levels, especially in a 
culture where women should not be seen by men they do not know. 
Due to this cultural taboo and lack of female guards, women are 
rarely giving any outdoor time and remain cooped up in their 
cells.  Juveniles are held with the adult population and do not 
have access to books or recreational activities.  BPC member 
Hasneen al-Safi said that if the youth do not have enough to do 
while incarcerated they will only learn more criminal ways and 
return to a life of crime upon release.  Al-Safi said that the 
BPC requested that the Basrah Sports Institute donate sports 
equipment for the prisons but never received a response. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) The condition of the prisons themselves is also a 
major concern.  Many of the prisons are extremely old and are in 
a state of disrepair and decay.  The largest prison in Basrah, 
Al Maqel prison, is a very old structure that is leaking and 
falling apart, has no hot water during the winter and only 
recently had a shaded area constructed for prisoners outdoors. 
No maintenance is being done on the building.  Al Amarah prison 
in Maysan province is also deteriorating, and the inability to 
do upkeep is affecting security at the prison.  Recently, a 
prisoner escaped by cutting a hole in a fence.  When the REO 
corrections advisor inquired a month later to see if the hole 
had been fixed the answer was negative.  An insufficient number 
of beds contributes to the problem, and many inmates are forced 
to sleep on the floor in crowded cells. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Overall, the consensus among REO contacts is that the 
prisoner rights situation within in the prisons is gradually 
improving.  Mahdi al-Timimi told poloff that the situation in 
the prisons now is very different than it was a year ago and 
that progress has been made in the way guards treat and deal 
with inmates.  There also is adequate monitoring of the prisons 
by the Regional Director and the DGHR, both of whom submit 
weekly reports to Baghdad.  The prison authorities are working 
to correct the deficiencies. 
 
¶12.  (C) Comment:  A functioning corrections system with proper 
safeguards for the rights of prisoners is integral to achieving 
the rule of law.  The correctional institutions started this 
process from scratch.  After over three decades of a brutal 
regime in which prisons were used as torture chambers and were 
filled with anyone the government was unhappy with, the 
corrections system has made significant progress in three years. 
 Although some of the local governments in the south have at 
times disengaged from or boycotted Coalition forces, the one 
sector that seems to ignore politics is corrections.  The Iraqis 
who work in this area understand the importance of the 
assistance and knowledge that Coalition members provide and are 
willing to work together to achieve their goals of good 
corrections facilities with well-trained staff.  However, 
working closely with Coalition forces may have caused too much 
dependence.  The REO corrections advisor commented to poloff 
that after three years Coalition Forces are still making 
decisions and plans for the Iraqis, and the time has come for 
the Iraqis to take ownership.  Decision making and planning are 
skills still needed when the prison at Camp Bucca is turned over 
to the Iraqis (estimated to happen in 2007), and they will have 
to go from overseeing 2,000 inmates in the region to close to 
9,000.  End comment. 
GROSS