By Capt. Daryl Roerick Co. B. 142nd Engineer Battalion

ABU GHRAIB, IRAQ -- The U.S. Army needed a jail to house people caught in criminal acts against coalition forces, so a former Iraqi prison became a target for renovation.

Due to its central location in Iraq, Abu Ghraib, a setting for many hair-raising episodes under the past regime, was the Army’s top choice. But a temporary structure needed to be built first, giving contractors time to refurbish the poorly maintained and extremely looted prison complex.

The order to begin construction was given July 9, and Bravo Company, 142nd Engineer Combat Battalion (ECB), a North Dakota Army National Guard unit from Wahpeton, was tasked with the job. The engineers, known by their call sign, "Condor," had just finished a mission in Baghdad.

The plan was to build a 4,000-person complex, comprised of eight self-contained modules, each housing 500 people. The latter would measure 375 feet square and would include a shower and restroom, security features and access points.

Construction began July 11. As a 300-by-500-meter parcel of earth was dozed, other soldiers from the unit put together the prison’s shower units. Eight units, which can each accommodate 18 people at a time, were built during a five-day period. One challenge was threading the galvanized steel pipe for the showers, as copper plumbing does not exist in Iraq.

Guard towers for the prison were built in a secured area, allowing soldiers to work without flak vests and helmets, easing the stress of the 125-degree heat.

The tower walls were designed to hold 18 inches of sand between the sidewalls, so the tower could withstand a direct hit from mortar fire. Once completed, a guard tower would weigh in the neighborhood of 45,000 pounds.

The work was varied. Earth-moving tasks performed by the Guard members included clearing, leveling, grading, excavating, trenching and compaction.

Soldiers in horizontal engineering put up a helicopter landing zone made with Mobi-mat, a polysynthetic cover that could be installed over leveled ground in minutes, while vertical engineers took care of the plumbing, electrical and wood frame construction work.

Many dignitaries visited the site while construction was underway, including Ambassador Paul Bremer, Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.

By Aug. 21, the day the Condors departed, 650 prisoners were housed at the new facility.