CAMP CROPPER (Iraq) - US COMBAT troops may have left Iraq's towns and cities but the yellow jumpsuit-clad inmates currently behind bars will remain in American-run prisons for months to come.

CAMPS TO RETURN TO LOCAL CONTROL As part of a plan put to the Iraqi government in December, US authorities aim to close Bucca in September, after the overall detainee population drops below 8,000. Taji is due to be handed over to local control in early 2010, and Cropper is set to follow in August the same year. ... more

At Camp Cropper on the outskirts of Baghdad, where 3,500 detainees are held, American commanders acknowledge there is much work to be done when it comes to training Iraqis to operate their own prison system.

Brigadier General David Quantock, who oversees US detainee operations in Iraq, noting that the numbers held had fallen from a high of around 26,000 to between 10,000 and 11,000.

With the aim of speeding up the process, US forces plan to open a Correctional Training Centre within weeks.

Currently, Cropper has about 800 Iraqi correctional officers - ICOs in US military speak - alongside 900 American personnel, with local staff often undergoing training in tandem with their day-to-day responsibilities.

'We're working with ICOs... getting them in there and learning by doing,' said First Lieutenant Josh Porter, standing outside a computer class he said was the most popular among detainees, who are mostly in their late 30s or early 40s.

'We're getting them out in front as much as possible.' First Lieutenant Michael Horab said detainees housed in Cropper are divided between moderates and extremists, with Iraqi 'catwalk guards' watching over the former because they are not yet authorised to use lethal force.

Iraqi guards are equipped with what Horab described as 'a paintball gun on steroids' to pinpoint troublemakers, while Gen Quantock added that only Americans would be authorised to use deadly weapons in US-run camps.

Cropper is the second largest of the US's three detention facilities in Iraq. Camp Bucca near the southern port city of Basra houses around 4,000 inmates, while Camp Taji, north of Baghdad, holds approximately 3,000. -- AFP