December 5, 2008
U.S. military pledges Afghan prison reform
KABUL, Afghanistan - The U.S. military promised yesterday to improve its prisons in Afghanistan after a top general inspected the network of 20 jails, where allegations of abuse include the deaths of at least three detainees.
The military refused to say how procedures will be changed at the jails - amid accounts from former prisoners of hoodings, beatings and sexual abuse. But a spokesman promised "comprehensive" information on the general's findings would be made public within weeks.
Nader Nadery, a spokesman for the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, urged commanders to release the findings to convince Afghans - shocked by graphic pictures from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq - that abuse in Afghanistan was not widespread.
"We're not satisfied but hope all the results of the review will be made public, or at least shared with the Afghan government and the human rights commission," he said.
Brig. Gen. Charles Jacoby visited all of the U.S. holding facilities after the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan ordered the prison review last month.
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