When the 372nd Military Police Company found the prison compound, it was an extremely depressing, sickening sight. Wild dogs scourged the area looking for food, and were digging up human bodies from the ground that were still there from the previous use of the prison. Photos and paintings of Saddam Hussein were plastered all over the prison, and the putrid smell of bodily fluids and excrement tainted the entire prison. The conditions were unbearable for even an investigation, let alone to eventually host thousands of detainees.
This particular Military Police Company had been trained for combatant operations, and not to become MPs. In fact, they had received no training whatsoever to prepare them for becoming Military Police. When they arrived at the prison, the soldiers were told their assignment and were offered no proper training for their positions. The troops were now stationed in the most dangerous area possible during the war. Abu Ghraib was the number one target and the most dangerous site for American troops to be located. Daily, the prison suffered multiple attacks. Even the road leading to and from the prison was one of the most dangerous on the planet, hosting the highest number of fatalities and war attacks than any other road.
By the end of September in 2003, the Abu Ghraib prison was now home to over six thousand detainees-nearly six times the amount of people captured only a month before. To control the magnitude of detainees, there was an unmatched 300 M.P.s stationed at Abu Ghraib. There were different sections of the prison that housed the prisoners based on their status. The general area hosted regular civilians that were captured on suspicion. The hard sites, such as Tier 1A and Tier 1B, hosted others. Tier 1B was inhabited by women and children, while Tier 1A was home to the criminally insane, highly suspected, and high priority detainees.
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