IRAQ - What was once the largest detention facility closed this week at Camp Bucca, in southern Iraq, with help from the Wisconsin Army National Guard Soldiers deployed with the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team. Since June Soldiers of the Janesville-based Company A, 132nd Brigade Support Battalion and Fond du Lac-based Company C, 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry have been conducting guard force missions and detainee transfers. These missions included transporting hundreds of detainees at a time from Camp Bucca to internment facilities in and around Baghdad. Several platoons of the 32nd Military Police Company have also assisted in detainee transfers. "The members of 2nd Platoon have received high praise for their professionalism in handling the detainees with dignity and respect while ensuring their safety during the transportation process," said 1st Sgt. Scott McDonnell of the 32nd MP Co. "They work long and difficult hours to meet this mission but continue to perform the mission with a high level of motivation."

Sgt. Brad Smith, Portage, supervises the movement of detainees at the theater internment facility on Camp Bucca. The detainees are transferred to other TIFs in Iraq where they will either continue serving their sentence or be released. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Tyler Lasure.

Because detainees currently held in U.S.-run detention facilities will only be transferred to Iraqi facilities that meet minimum international standards, the 32nd MP Company's 1st and 3rd Platoons are completing assessments to ensure Iraqi prisons meet those standards for Iraqi prisoner custody and care.

From American Forces Press Service:

Camp Bucca Detention Center Closes in Iraq

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq - As the last detainee boarded a plane destined for another theater detention center today, the detainee operations mission at Camp Bucca, Iraq, officially ended.

An Air Force C-17 carrying the last group of 180 detainees lifted off from the Basra airport headed to Camp Cropper at 3:22 a.m., officials said.

"As a result of the great working relationship between the government of Iraq and Task Force 134, I'm pleased to say the Camp Bucca detention facility is now closed," said Army Brig. Gen. David Quantock, Joint Task Force 134's commanding general. "We've been working hand in hand with the government of Iraq to coordinate our detainee releases and transfers in accordance with the [U.S.-Iraq] security agreement, and that teamwork has allowed us to close the Bucca [theater internment facility]."

Task Force 134 members have been focusing on the safe and orderly releases and transfers of detainees in accordance with the security agreement, which took effect Jan. 1. The agreement, signed in November 2008, states that detainee transfers between coalition forces and the Iraqi government must be conducted with arrest warrants or detention orders. If detainees don't have a warrant or detention order, they must be released.

The facility's closure leaves only two U.S.-run detention centers in Iraq: Camp Taji, 16 miles north of Baghdad, and Camp Cropper, near the Baghdad International Airport, officials said. Detainees who were held at Camp Bucca -- but haven't been released or transferred to the Iraqi government -- have been moved to one of the two remaining facilities.

Since February, Task Force 134 has released about 750 detainees from its detention facilities each month and transferred an average of 200 detainees per month to the Iraqi government, officials said.

With the Bucca center's closure, 8,305 detainees remain in coalition custody, officials said. This year, 1,360 detainees have been transferred to the Iraqi government with a warrant, detention order or conviction of a terrorist act by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq. Since the security agreement went into effect, 5,703 detainees have been released.

(From a Multinational Force Iraq news release.)