FORT HOOD, Texas — Pfc. Lynndie England, a 22-year-old clerk in the Army who was photographed with naked Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, was sentenced on Tuesday to three years in prison and a dishonorable discharge for her role in the scandal.
After the sentence was announced, England hung her head and cried briefly before hugging her mother, one of the few signs of emotion she showed in the six-day trial. She had been found guilty on Monday of one count of conspiracy to maltreat prisoners, four counts of maltreatment and one count of committing an indecent act.
She made no comment on Tuesday as she was led out of the courthouse in handcuffs and leg shackles.
Earlier in the day, though, she took the stand and apologized for abusing the prisoners, saying her conduct was influenced by Private Charles A. Graner Jr., her boyfriend at the time.
She said she was "embarrassed" when photographs showing her posing next to naked detainees became public in 2004.
"I was used by Private Graner," she said. "I didn't realize it at the time."
Often groping for words and staring downward, England directed her apology to the detainees and to any American troops and their families who might have been injured or killed as a result of the insurgency in Iraq gaining strength.
Prosecutors argued on Tuesday that the anti-American feeling generated in Arab and Muslim countries by the Abu Ghraib scandal justified sentencing England to four to six years in prison and dishonorably discharging her from the Army. The charges the jury found her guilty of on Monday carried a maximum penalty of nine years.
"I can't think of another incident that has more tarnished the reputation of the United States Army," Capt. Chris Graveline, the lead prosecutor, told the jury of five officers, several of whom have served in Iraq. "Has this abuse had an impact on our war in Iraq? Definitely."
But England's lawyer, Capt. Jonathan Crisp, urged them to "let her go home" and live with the "stigma" of what she had done.