A new $2m prison opened in Lashkar Gah this week, dramatically improving security and conditions for prisoners in Helmand.

For decades, Helmand has had to make do with a prison that was little more than a squalid village-like compound, surrounded by a high wall and watch towers.  There were no facilities for inmates, except a well, and the prison guards only ventured inside once a day to deliver food. Petty thieves lived among murderers and Taliban prisoners, policing themselves.

Conditions have been turned around with the opening of the new prison.  The security features, cells and facilities meet international standards.  For the first time, inmates will be accommodated in cells and have access to washing facilities and a communal area.  The Afghan prison authorities will work inside the prison for the first time, maintaining order, improving security and ensuring that prisoners are treated humanely.

Hugh Powell, Head of Mission at the Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) said

''The opening of this facility marks another milestone in the development of the security institutions in Helmand. This prison will vastly improve conditions for the prisoners and help the Afghan Government enforce law and order in the province.''

The operation to move all 383 prisoners from the old prison to the new took a month plan.  It was led by the Afghan Police, but brought in support from the Afghan Army, ISAF and serving senior UK prisons officers.  As the inmates were moved into their new accommodation they were separated into categories of political, high risk or low risk prisoners - each moving to their own wing.  Among them were 105 Taliban and several high profile narcotics criminals.

To prepare for the opening, forty Afghan guards received training, overseen by British prison officers.  One of their first tasks will be to get to know their inmates for the first time and begin case reviews to check that none have completed their sentences.  

The $2m prison project was funded by the international Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team and built by local contractors.  When the fourth and final wing is complete, in March 2010, it will be one of the best penal facilities in Afghanistan.

The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) has footage from within the new prison. To view, please follow this link.

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