US Plans to Release Another 650 Prisoners From Abu Ghraib on Monday [View All]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The U.S. military plans to release another 650 prisoners from Abu Ghraib prison, center of the abuse scandal, next week, U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said Saturday. The release will take place Monday, he said. A week ago, the U.S. Army freed another 320 detainees from Abu Ghraib, the fourth major release since the scandal broke in April, which brought down the number of inmates to about 3,100.

The U.S. military has said it will hand over the prison, which was also notorious for being a torture site during Saddam Hussein's regime, to Iraqi officials in August.

After the revelations of abuse, U.S. officials said they planned to reduce the facility's population by at least half, but the military is still sending so-called "high-risk" detainees considered security risks to the prison.

One American accused in the scandal was sentenced to a year in prison for sexually humiliating detainees and taking a photo of prisoners stacked naked in a human pyramid. Three others will appear before a military judge June 21 in Baghdad.

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