Since late last year, I've been noting and perplexed by evidence of the swelling numbers of detaineess held by the U.S. in Iraq. Yesterday's LAT had this:
The number of prisoners held by the U.S. in Iraq reached record levels this month before falling slightly. As of Saturday, the average prisoner total in June stood at 10,783, up from 7,837 in January and 5,435 in June 2004.
The two main U.S. Army-run prisons, Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca, are operating near their maximum or "surge" emergency limits. On Saturday, the two prisons together held 10,178 inmates, with 1,630 detainees awaiting processing in different Army divisional and brigade headquarters.
[...]
Maj. Gen. William Brandenburg, who oversees U.S.-run prisons in Iraq, had planned to be out of Abu Ghraib by early spring. "I believed it until mid-December, but the numbers just weren't going that way," he said. "Business is booming."
The LAT takes a stab at explaining the apparent surge:
Efforts to relieve the prison crowding by speeding up releases have been frustrated, officials say, by an increase in detainees deemed a high risk to commit acts of violence if set free. A Combined Review and Release Board of three U.S. officials and six Iraqis — two each from the ministries of interior, justice and human rights — reviews each prisoner within 90 days of arrival.
Those judged too dangerous to be released can be held indefinitely with reviews every six months.
A second joint Iraqi-U.S. review board has been created in hopes of speeding up prisoner releases. But an increase in alleged hard-core detainees has partially stymied the process. Through the end of last year, Rudisill said, about 40% of the detainees who were reviewed were judged "high risk" or "extremely high risk." Since January, that percentage has risen to 60%.
"We're holding on to more and more of them," Rudisill said.
I'm glad there is a joint panel. I am also skeptical of the percentages. Last month, the Wash Post cited the same trend then noted, "Since January, 88 percent of those detained have been rated '"high risk'." So which is it, 88 percent? 60 percent?
P.S. Note to newspaper editors: The bulging number of detainees is not a new trend anymore.
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