Construction has begun on a new US prison in Afghanistan which is designed to hold up to 1,100 prisoners. The facility is intended to replace the US prison at the Bagram airbase, where allegations of detainee mistreatment first occurred in 2002. The US claims the new facility is based on a successful model first tried in Iraq, where prisoners have only fifty square feet of cell space. The new facility is seen as a sign that the US intends to continue to hold Afghans rather than leave the job to local police forces.