Detainee facility overlooks challenges, Prepares for up-coming Iraqi elections

UMM QASR, IRAQ

12.13.2005

Courtesy Story

DVIDS Hub       

Spc. Michael R. Noggle CFLCC PAO/11th PAD

CAMP BUCCA, Iraq- Operated by the 785th Military Police Company, Fraser, Mich. Based unit, along with other servicemembers and Coalition Forces, the Theater Internment Facility here has become a major operation in Iraq today.

With thousands of detainees awaiting court dates, the facility remains in a constant state of alert.

"Every day is a new challenge of a different variety," said Lt. Col. Rod Faulk, Theater Internment Facility commander.

With the possibilities of inclement weather, prison riots or small-arms fire coming from outside the wire, the guards have to be alert of the situation at all times, said Air Force Staff Sgt. Travis Robichaux, 886th Expeditionary Security Forces operations.

For the past few years, Bucca has been the detention facility for many who have committed crimes in Iraq.

"These people are in this facility because they are believed to have committed criminal acts against the Iraq people, the United States and Coalition Forces," Faulk said. "Our job is to safeguard and secure the detainees."

With a year-round operation, the TIF provides a quick response force, rover guards, medical facility support and compound security at all times.

"We monitor and control everything that goes on in the TIF," Robichaux said. "With the numbers of detainees growing, it becomes a huge task tracking every individual being held here."

While the detainees remain cooperative, Faulk rewards the inmates with recreational activities such as educational classes, arts and crafts, television and sports.

"We try to keep the detainees occupied with things to do, as opposed to them doing things we prefer them not to do," he said. "We would rather promote a peaceful and harmonious environment while their cases are pending."

With the first-ever elections ongoing in Iraq, the command has made it their priority to give the detainees an opportunity they have never received before.

"We are offering the detainees a historical opportunity for the future of Iraq," Faulk said.

Over the course of a few weeks, the security guards got with the detainee leadership and explained the process of Election Day.

"All the detainees will go through the voting process; whether they vote or not is strictly up to them," said Capt. Christine Lustilla, detainee operations officer.

The Iraqi voting officials will handle the ballots that each detainee submits, Lustilla said.

The security guards will have nothing to do with any of the voting process except to maintain an orderly crowd. To assist the voters in the process, instructors have visited
compounds assisting each individual in how to read a ballot and how to fill one out correctly. The compound will have a speaker system setup announcing which candidates are on the ballot.

Sample ballots are available as well so the detainees can sit down, fill one out, review it and then go into the actual booth to write down what is on that practice ballot.

"This is their opportunity to shape their government," said Lt. Melissa Shaw, assistant detainee operations officer. "They have a voice in what goes on, they can express that voice by voting or not."

"There's not a better way to show them what democracy is then letting them see what the voting process is," Shaw said. "It's the key part of our democracy in the United States in voting for our officials."

"This is probably the most important mission in the theater," said Lt. Col. Thomas Chapman, 344th Task Force Medical chief nurse. "We are the only hospital inside a prison or internment area. We are right in the middle of all the action."

The TIF medical facility is used by servicemembers and detainees.
It is considered the largest level-four hospital in Iraq because of its surgical and rehabilitation capabilities; the medical staff specializes in detainee health.

"We are the first contact these detainees have with Coalition soldiers and we have a chance to treat them with respect," Chapman explained.

From all corners of Iraq, anyone considered a long-term holding patient is sent to the medical facility when others in country don't have the capabilities.

The facility operates a helicopter landing pad, ambulances, surgical operators, rehab trainers, dentistry, maintenance crews and a pharmacy to cope those who arrive needing prescriptions to medicine.

"Most of these guys have never seen a doctor or nurse in their lives," Chapman said. Chapman recalled one incident where detainees were being bused up to a Baghdad facility but didn't want to leave because of the treatment they were receiving from the TIF hospital.

"They are thankful for what we do and how we treat them," he said. "We have a chance to treat them with respect â?¦ and that gets them to interact with us."

• Date Taken: 12.13.2005
• Date Posted: 12.13.2005 14:18
• Story ID: 4053
• Location: UMM QASR, IQ