DoD
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

U.S. officials decided last year that detainees held in coalition-run facilities in Iraq needed opportunities to voice their concerns and broaden their minds, rather than to just mark time, a senior U.S. military officer posted in Iraq said today.

“The way detention operations used to be conducted here in the country were a strategic risk,” Army Brig. Gen. Michael R. Nevin, commander of 177th Military Police Brigade, said in a conference call with military analysts.

“Back about in last March and April, there were a lot of violent actions, riots, detainee-on-detainee violence and detainee-on-guard violence going on in the facilities,” Nevin recalled. “Things were boiling over.”

(more…)

MNF-I

CAMP BUCCA, Iraq – The family visitation program at the detention facility here had its highest number of visitors for the week ending Dec. 21.

After implementing a number of new programs to the visitation process, the renovated visitation center at Camp Bucca doubled the level of visitation from approximately 750 visits per week in the fall to more than 1,600 during the third week in December.

The program is viewed as a vital part of the reconciliation process for detainees.

(more…)