Detainee engagement making a difference

Photo By Spc. Michael May | Staff Sgt. Gregory Smith, 535th Military Police Battalion, watches detainees below play a game of volley ball in the recreation yard from a catwalk at Camp Cropper, a coalition forces Theater Internment Facilty in western Baghdad, Feb. 19. Coalition forces are dedicated to providing the highest care and custody while supporting the efforts of the United Nations Security Council and the government of Iraq to maintain stability and security in the region.  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

02.24.2008

Courtesy Story

Multi-National Force Iraq Public Affairs

BAGHDAD – Shouts drift through the air and over the razor-wire fences at Camp Cropper, a coalition forces theater internment facility, or TIF, in western Baghdad.

Detainees form a crowd inside the compound as the loud cheers and even louder jeers intensify. Guards on the catwalks above watch closely as the mob's shouting reaches its peak. It's over suddenly, and the participants trickle away in ones and twos, replaying the highlights of the afternoon's volleyball game and already planning for the next.

Allowing detainees freedom - even fun – inside a detention facility may seem odd, but it is part of a strategic counterinsurgency tactic to engage detainees and separate violent individuals from the rest of the population. The goal is to create a safe and positive environment for successful detainee reintegration into Iraqi society.

Army Staff Sgt. Gregory Smith, 535th Military Police Battalion, is a Reservist military policeman and a civilian police officer from Nashville, Tenn. He works as the noncommissioned officer in charge of Compound Two, known inside the TIF as the most compliant compound. Much of his day is spent walking the compound's four zones, overseeing his guards and meeting with the detainee zone chiefs, he said.

"I like to describe my job in the TIF as putting out small fires before they turn into big ones," said Smith.

Each zone chief is chosen by the detainees within each zone, usually based on a combination of education, English speaking skills, status on the outside and, most importantly, their ability to affect change within the zone, Smith said. Since many parts of the detainees' lives inside the zones are self-sufficient, like the distribution and handling of meals for cultural reasons, the chiefs request changes in food, clothing, hygiene items and zone assignments through the guards and, ultimately, Smith.

Detainees are provided with two uniforms, a coat, underwear, undershirts, socks, towels, a toothbrush, a blanket and a sleeping mat upon initial in-processing. But naturally, those items eventually wear out.

"The biggest thing they request is supplemental clothing items, like underwear, socks and toothpaste," which Smith said the guards pass on to the zones immediately.

It's the extra recreational items that are sometimes hard to keep them supplied with, according to Smith. "Ping-pong balls, soccer balls, volleyballs—they use them so much that the guards sometimes end up buying them or having them sent from home," he said. "It means a lot to the detainees."

The chiefs also approach the guard force if they have a medical need or emergency within the zone. Detainees have access to the same medical care available to U.S. service members at Camp Cropper.

"Their medical care really stands out to me. They have sick call every third day, where medics come into the compound to check on them. But if they are sick or have a need for immediate attention, we have a hospital with medics, doctors and dentists on standby around the clock," said Smith. "The majority of these guys could not get this kind of medical care anywhere on the outside. They even have a nutritionist."

In essence, the guard force and the detainee population rely on each other to make the detention process work, a process which Smith said works well.

Constant communication with the chiefs is beneficial for the guard force as well, Smith added. He said he can recall many occasions where a zone chief helped identify an extremist detainee in his zone, who was attempting to incite other detainees to violence or misbehavior.

A sign written in Arabic, made by the B Zone chief, hangs above the entrance to his zone, the most moderate and well-behaved of the zones, Smith said it serves as a warning to terrorists and extremists who may want to cause trouble inside. It reads, "The Iraqi Reconciliation is Stronger than the Terrorist Weapon."

"The moderate detainees want the extremists out of their compound," said Smith. "Moving the extremists away from the general population changed everything."

Just a few months ago, the situation inside Compound Two was completely different from what it is today, Smith said. Extremists in the compound were threatening other detainees in order to cause them to riot or not comply with the guard force. It was an explosive atmosphere characterized by constant non-compliance.

Smith arrived in the compound toward the end of August 2007, just when a new process for engaging the detainees was being implemented under Marine Maj. Gen. Doug Stone, deputy commanding general for coalition detention operations in Iraq. The system emphasizes identifying and isolating the extremists from the compounds, while providing the detainees with basic education courses, work-for-pay programs and moderate Islamic religious discussions led by trained Iraqi imams.

Stone said the goal is to address the reasons for detention, and help the detainees empower themselves for success in society, once it's determined they are no longer a threat to coalition forces and the security of Iraq.

With the creation of the Multi-National Force Review Committee board, every detainee is able to speak to a panel regarding their detention once every six months, resulting in the board's recommendation to continue to hold or to release the detainee based on many factors, including their behavior while detained, said Lt. Cmdr. K.C. Marshall, spokesman for Coalition detention operations in Iraq.

Smith said the change in the compound was noticeable immediately. "We went from the use of non-lethal force almost every day to hardly any. Now we've just had a handful of incidents here since October, and they're usually small."

A big reason for the turn-around was that the detainees figured out that good behavior and compliance with the guard force looks better on their record in the MNFRC board, Smith said. The detainees now have reason to comply with the guard force, and they want the troublemakers out of the compound.

"This works because there may be some bad detainees, but in a compound where everyone else follows the rules, the bad ones really stand out. As a result, [those who maintain good behavior] get some extra privileges. For us, it's a win-win situation," Smith said.

The detainees of Compound Two have been compliant with the guard force since October 2007, when the Sunni and Shiite zone chiefs reconciled and began working together to make their time in detention as positive as possible, said Smith. The chiefs meet with each other and Lt. Col. McMullen, the Camp Cropper TIF commander, once a week to discuss detainee issues inside the compound.

Smith said he feels lucky to have been a part of the transformation in Compound Two. He knows guard work is not as flashy as patrolling the streets of Iraq for insurgents, but he considers his guards' mission at Camp Cropper just as important in winning the war on terror.

"As a police officer you might touch someone's life a handful of times to make a difference. It's the same principal here. You might not completely change his life, but we are planting a seed," Smith said. "The effect we have on them in the next year is nothing. It's the long term effect we have on them that will either help us or haunt us. The only question I ask myself is: 'If I was on the other side of the wire, how would I want to be treated?'"

• Date Taken: 02.24.2008
• Date Posted: 02.24.2008 16:11
• Story ID: 16661
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ