US Maj. Gen. Kelly: 'unbelievable over crowding' in Fallujah city jail

March 30, 2008

Wikinews has obtained a copy of a classified memo from the Commander of US forces in western Iraq, Major General John Kelly. The document, which was obtained via Wikileaks, features Kelly describing Fallujah city jail as a jail with "unbelievable over crowding, total lack of anything approaching even minimal levels of hygiene for human beings, no food, little water," and "no ventilation."

Kelly said in the memo that he was told that one of the reasons for the poor conditions is the fact that "there is zero support from the government for any of the jails in Anbar [the region the jail is in] No funds, food or medical support has been provided from any ministry."

He continued by saying that, "the police that run Anbar's jails are the same personnel responsible for investigating crimes. These jailer/investigators are undermanned and more often than not spend most of their time out begging and scavenging for food than investigating crimes."

"Anbar lacks trained Iraqi correctional officers (ICOS) to run the jails in Anbar. The development and employment of trained ICOS would enable the IP to focus on criminal investigation rather than jail supervision. I believe the Iraqi police are doing the best they can, and they literally begged me on humanitarian, moral and religious grounds to help them help the prisoners by somehow moving the government to action," Kelly continued.