By Lennox Samuels

Karim Kadim / AP

Iraq has opened a prison that its operators say will be an example of enlightened and modern incarceration. The freshly painted walls are almost sunny and the facilities include a library, gym, computer room and health care center. It is hard to imagine that this lockup, called Baghdad Central Prison, was previously Abu Ghraib, a global symbol of abuse and human rights violations.

Five years ago TV and newspapers flashed images around the globe of U.S. soldiers gleefully assaulting and sexually humiliating Iraqi detainees in the prison on the western edge of Baghdad. The photos, circulated in April 2004, stunned the world, deepened anti-American sentiment in Iraq and stiffened opposition against the war. The prison closed in 2006.

The renovated facility, opened at the weekend with something akin to fanfare, seems more like a minimum-security detention center than a warehouse for hardened criminals or terrorists. That was the intent, say Iraqi officials, who have assumed control from the U.S. Indeed, Mohammed al-Zeidi, an official with the Iraq Rehabilitation Department suggests that it is almost resort-like. Spokeswoman Fayha Shukri talks about the detainee-to-room ratio the way school principals talk about student-to-teacher ratios. Rooms will have eight beds, compared with 30 beds in the Saddam Hussein days, she says.