An interior view of the dining facility at the newly opened Baghdad Central Prison in Abu Ghraib on February 21, 2009 in Baghdad, Iraq. Wathiq Khuzaie for Getty Images Europe.
Yesterday, my good friend Debra Baida sent me through the link to the New York Times Abu Ghraib – Baghdad Bureau Blog. This came at the same moment I was preparing a post to discuss the first images to come out of the renamed, refurbished and relaunched Baghdad Central Prison.
By far the best, and possibly the only, extended photo essay of Abu Ghraib Baghdad Central Prison is by Wathiq Khuzaie of Getty Images Europe. There is also this brief video from the BBC.
Iraqi security personnel stand guard at the newly opened Baghdad Central Prison in Abu Ghraib on February 21, 2009 in Baghdad, Iraq. The Iraqi Ministry of Justice has renovated and reopened the previously named "Abu Ghraib" prison and renamed the site to Baghdad Central Prison. Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images Europe
New Era, New Penology
The BBC noted, “Along with the change of name, the Iraqi justice ministry is trying to change both image and reality, billing it as a model prison, open to random inspection by the Red Cross and other humanitarian organisations.”
This transparency is a refreshing change to the policy of Abu Ghraib’s former operators. The work is not yet complete though and the upgrade is ongoing. The BBC describes, “[The prison] will eventually be the city’s main jail, holding about 12,000 inmates. Initially, only one of its four sections will be used. There are already about 300 prisoners there to test it out and, once the prison has been officially inaugurated, that figure will rise to 3,500.”
So, not only do Iraqi authorities want to repurpose the institution, they want to make it the penal institution of “The New Iraq”. This is an ambitious policy riddled with dangers; the site is loaded with memory and controversy. As the New York Times notes, “the promise of a new era can also be a time for remembrance.”
I highly recommend one goes onto read accounts from Iraqis, correspondents and photographers who lived and recorded Abu Ghraib’s recent history, particularly photographer Tyler Hicks’ account of Saddam’s prison amnesty in October 2002 that turned from celebration to human catastrophe.
Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images Europe
An interior view of one of the cells at the newly opened Baghdad Central Prison in Abu Ghraib on February 21, 2009 in Baghdad, Iraq. Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images Europe
Two things struck me about the photographic series of the new prison. Firstly, the number of flags, insignia and national colours across walls, above fences and emblazoned on uniforms. The Iraqi authorities have stamped their identity all over this project. It is the presentation necessary to supersede Abu Ghraib’s reputation.
Secondly, the pastel palette of many of the interior shots – namely the ubiquitous lilac. I want to know who has the decision-making power at Baghdad Central Prison! However, I suspect lilac paint was cheap and readily available; so it wasn’t so much a decision – more a fact created by circumstance.
Interior view of the barbers shop at the newly opened Baghdad Central Prison in Abu Ghraib on February 21, 2009. Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images Europe.
Following that logic, one could presume lilac and purple fabric & thread is also at a surplus in Baghdad…
Interior view of sewing machines at the newly opened Baghdad Central Prison in Abu Ghraib on February 21, 2009. Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images Europe.
I don’t want to sound facetious, I was just shocked by the light purple, which according to colour theory is supposed to evoke emotional memory and nostalgia. Darker purples are supposed to represented, nobility, royalty and stability. From those evocations one is instilled with wisdom, independence, dignity and creativity.
If Baghdad Central Prison is to spur such emotional response in its inmate population it will succeed where many, many prisons have failed.
Basically, I am hopeful that the new prison can operate justly and succeed with the rehabilitation it emphasised this week. And despite all the lilac, soft-furnishings and current open media access – in reality it remains a prison with doors, locks and guards.
Interior view of cell doors at the newly opened Baghdad Central Prison in Abu Ghraib on February 21, 2009 in Baghdad, Iraq. The Iraqi Ministry of Justice has renovated and reopened the previously named "Abu Ghraib" prison and renamed the site to Baghdad Central Prison. According to the Iraqi Ministry of Justice about 400 prisoners were transferred to the prison which can hold up to 3000 inmates. The prison was established in 1970 and it became synonymous with abuse under the U.S. occupation. Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images Europe.
Prison Photography 
5 comments
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February 22, 2009 at 4:27 pm
iheartfilm
Very nice. You do a fine job of bringing out what’s interesting about this kind of place.
Chris
February 22, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Sven
Pete, very interesting post. It’s fascinating how the lilac color almost makes these “rooms” look like a hipster restaurant in the Mission, kinda warm and cozy. Seems humane, but like you said, there are still bars in front of the windows. I can just hear the wingnuts saying how this is just like Club Med and we should just go back to torturing everybody, because, well, they deserve it!
February 27, 2009 at 5:39 pm
blaark
What emotional response is pea-soup green supposed to invoke? That’s what I remember SF’s 850 Bryant being painted, although they’re changed the jail significantly since I was a visitor… Actually, growing up my room was a similar color…
But that’s not my point… I suppose I could click on any number of hyperlinks to figure this out myself but there’s some confusion in your quotations or my feeble mind… The BBC gets quoted as saying that the new and purple Abu Ghraib can hold 12,000 but the caption for your last photo by Wathiq Khuzaie suggests a 3,000 maximum head-count…
Good call about the color scheme– it’s pretty striking, especially those rose colored sheets…
February 27, 2009 at 5:44 pm
petebrook
I hope the BBC has got its figures mixed up. 12,000 would be a monstrous prison – it just seems to big. Maybe an extended complex would hold that amount, and maybe in the past the overcrowded prison held that many.
3,300 still sounds like a lot, but it is at least believable. I do know Baghdad Central isn’t to capacity yet. They say that its only 25% full, which makes me wonder if the figures you quoted are related – 3,300 is just over 25% of 12,000, right? I’ll do some more reading tonight….
April 16, 2009 at 2:39 pm
petebrook
I learnt this week that Abu Ghraib at its mammoth-sized-most-monstrous held 10,000 prisoners. It was described by Philip Gourevitch not as a prison but as an American concentration camp – a spatial embodiment of America’s imperialism exported to the centre of the Sunni triangle.