Iraq: Juvenile Prison

Karkh Juvenile Detention Facility, located in an old police detention center, holds 113 juvenile inmates. Baghdad, population 5 million, is one of the world's most crime-ridden cities and this is the only juvenile prison in Baghdad. Baghdad residents say carjackings and murders-some perpetrated by teens-are at epidemic proportions and that Iraqi police aren't catching many criminals. Yet the 113 prisoners at Karkh include every single boy-inmates range in age from 13 to 18- who has either been accused or convicted of a serious crime. And some not so serious. Once a 9-year-old boy spent two months in the facility after he was brought in for begging. Another child's crime is listed as homosexual.