Pentagon to build new prison at Bagram

WASHINGTON, May 16 (UPI) -- The Pentagon is moving forward with a new prison at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, The New York Times reports.

The planned construction represents a concession by the Bush administration that the United States will be holding prisoners in Afghanistan for years. Previously, officials had said the detention center at Bagram would be closed soon, with its inmates either released or transferred to an Afghan prison built with U.S. aid.

There are 630 prisoners at Bagram, far more than the 270 detainees remaining at Guantanamo, Cuba. They are held in a prison converted from an aircraft hanger with some old Russian military equipment still stored there, the newspaper said.

"Our existing theater internment facility is deteriorating," Sandra L. Hodgkinson, the senior Defense Department official for detention policy, told the Times. "It was renovated to do a temporary mission. There is a sense that this is the right time to build a new facility."