It has been reported by PHR that conditions at Shebarghan are in grave violation of international standards for those held in detention or as prisoners of war. The facilities are entirely inadequate for the care of the number of people now held there, the food is insufficient in quantity and nutrition, the water supply unclean, sanitation virtually absent, clothing meager, and barred walls open to the elements expose the inhabitants to winter conditions. Disease is rampant. Each cell block contained a series of 18 rooms on one side of a central concrete floored corridor that ran the length of the structure. Each cell was built for 10-15 men, but some now held up to 80-110 men.

Capacity to provide medical care is hampered by insufficient supplies and primitive facilities. Dysentery and yellow jaundice, probably due to Hepatitis A, are epidemic and many, many, many prisoners had already died, mainly from dysentery, some from pneumonia.
Access to the prison had until very recently been controlled by two United States military personnel stationed there. D uring the first two to three weeks of the arrival of the prisoners at Shebarghan, the U.S. military authorities had prevented access to prisoners in order to conduct prisoner interviews and select those they wished to move to Kandahar for further interrogation. When the International Commission of the Red Cross gained access, its initial task focused on prisoner identification, registration, and family notification. Because of the large number of prisoners found to be in the prison, that process had not yet been fully accomplished.

Thousands of prisoners are being held for long periods in poor conditions such as overcrowded cells, some shackled, with inadequate bedding and food. The Interim Government ratified all major human rights treaties including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Convention against Torture, Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women and Convention on the rights of the Child. But in spite of these binding treaties and lack of financial support the changes have so far been minimal.

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Report on Afghanistan Prisons by PHRUSA