In its first life, Fort Suse was a barracks. In its second, a United Nations demining facility. In its third, an American detention center built to ease the shame of Abu Ghraib. In its fourth, an Iraqi prison. Each transformation tells a chapter of modern Iraq's turbulent history. Built in 1977 by Russian engineers near Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan Region, this military installation has been repurposed so many times that its original function feels like ancient history, though it is barely half a century old.
Fort Suse's conversion to a detention facility in 2005 was driven by crisis. The Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal had made that facility's name synonymous with American military failure, and the coalition needed alternatives. At a cost of $8 million, civilian contractors supervised by the 20th Engineer Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division Military Police, and Task Force 134 transformed the compound into a facility capable of holding 1,700 to 2,000 security detainees. Construction began on August 3, 2005. The first 50 detainees arrived on October 24. The speed of the conversion reflected the urgency: existing detention facilities at Camp Bucca and Camp Cropper were overcrowded, and the political imperative to close Abu Ghraib demanded immediate action.
The facility's guard force evolved rapidly. The 1st Battalion, 504th Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division provided the initial security, with the 82nd Military Police Battalion supervising detainee operations and medics from the 101st Airborne providing medical care. By January 2006, the 508th Military Police Battalion had taken control. They trained U.S. Navy personnel to perform guard duties, and by February, the Navy Provisional Detainee Battalion was running day-to-day detainee operations. Simultaneously, the 508th opened a training program for Kurdish prison guards, who gradually assumed responsibility for individual cell blocks. This layered handoff, from Army to Navy to Kurdish guards, reflected both the complexity of coalition operations in Iraq and the long-term goal of transferring authority to Iraqi institutions.
On December 12, 2005, Fort Suse witnessed an improbable scene: nearly 90 percent of eligible security detainees participated in the democratic vote on the Iraqi National Ballot. People held behind wire for security offenses were casting ballots to shape the government of the country that held them. Five months later, on May 8, 2006, five detainees escaped, the first breakout from the facility. Reports attributed the escape to negligence by Kurdish guards. A joint operation by Kurdish security forces and Peshmerga fighters recaptured four of the five. The fifth was believed to have died in the Kurdish mountains. By August 2006, the decision had been made: all remaining security detainees would be transferred to Camp Cropper and Camp Bucca, and Fort Suse would be handed over to the Iraqi government.
The handover came on September 22, 2006. Fort Suse became an Iraqi-run prison with a maximum capacity of 1,500 inmates, receiving its first prisoners on November 19 of that year. Unlike its American incarnation, which held security detainees awaiting judicial process, the Iraqi facility houses convicted criminals serving sentences imposed by Iraqi courts. In October 2007, the International Committee of the Red Cross conducted its first visit to Fort Suse as an Iraqi-run facility, marking the kind of institutional normalcy the transfer was meant to achieve. The fort endures, fulfilling yet another purpose, its walls indifferent to the flags that fly above them.
Located at 35.76N, 45.14E near Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The military compound is visible from lower altitudes as a walled complex. Nearest airport is Sulaymaniyah International Airport (ORSU), approximately 20 km to the southeast. Best viewed at 5,000-8,000 feet AGL. Terrain is hilly with scattered agricultural land.