The former director of the Utah Department of Corrections says he had nothing to do with the training of military personnel at Abu Ghraib and that he is "sickened" by the Iraqi prisoner-abuse scandal.
Lane McCotter, who was executive director of the Corrections Department from 1992 to 1997, headed a team of advisers who went to Iraq last year to rebuild the country's prisons, train new corrections officers and recruit. That job included the reopening of the Abu Ghraib prison, where the photographs and videos of prisoner abuse that sparked the scandal were taken.
McCotter, 63, who is director of Management & Training Corp., a private prison company based in Centerville, was traveling and unavailable for comment Monday, according to his secretary.
But in a written statement, he said his last dealings with Abu Ghraib were Aug. 30 when he attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark its opening.
"I was not involved in any aspect of the facility's operation after that time," he noted.
In the statement, McCotter said it was a "privilege and honor" to serve in Iraq from May 15-Sept. 3, 2003.
"During that time, one of my team's primary responsibilities was to oversee reconstruction of the Abu Ghraib prison. The facility was selected to be rebuilt after we determined it to be the best site available for housing maximum security inmates," he said. "I am proud of what I and my team accomplished while in the Middle East."
The main duties of McCotter's team were to arrange for the structural renovation of the prisons in Iraq, he said. Only a "smaller portion" of his duties included the training of Iraq citizens to work in the prisons.
"At no time did I train or supervise any military personnel working in Iraqi prisons," McCotter said. "There were never any inmates in the Abu Ghraib prison prior to my departure."
In October, after returning from Iraq, McCotter and Gary DeLand, who picked McCotter to succeed him as executive director of Utah's Corrections Department, talked about their trip on KSL Newsradio's Doug Wright show. The men said one of their biggest challenges was retraining the Iraqi citizens from their old ways of thinking, which meant no more torturing prisoners or taking bribes.
McCotter said in his statement that he was "sickened by the improper actions that have taken place at Abu Ghraib since my departure. Certainly those who have acted improperly should be fully prosecuted."
He also noted the misdeeds of a few shouldn't taint the job being done by the thousands of other dedicated military personnel.
McCotter's role in reopening the prison and his controversial reign as Utah's corrections chief were put into the spotlight over the weekend due mostly to a New York Times article.
McCotter resigned as head of the Utah Department of Corrections in 1997, two months after an inmate died after being handcuffed naked to a restraining chair for 16 hours. During McCotter's five years as executive director, he also came under criticism for the escape of inmate Keith Lamar Shepherd and for hiring Dr. David Egli, a prison psychiatrist who previously had his medical license put on probation for inappropriate conduct.
Shepherd escaped from the Gunnison Prison in 1997 and went on a four-month bank-robbery spree before being shot and recaptured by an off-duty officer in New Mexico.
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