Lynndie Rana England (born November 8, 1982) is a former United States Army Reserve soldier who was prosecuted for abusing detainees during the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse that occurred at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad during the Iraq War. She was one of 11 military personnel from the 372nd Military Police Company who were convicted in 2005 for war crimes. After being sentenced to three years in prison and a dishonorable discharge, England was incarcerated from September 27, 2005, to March 1, 2007, when she was released on parole.

Early life

Born in Ashland, Kentucky, England moved with her family to Fort Ashby, West Virginia, when she was two years old. She was raised by her mother, Terrie Bowling England, and her father Kenneth R. England Jr., a railroad worker who worked at a station in Cumberland, Maryland. She aspired to be a storm chaser.

England joined the United States Army Reserve in Cumberland in 1999 while she was a junior at Frankfort High School near Short Gap. England worked as a cashier in an IGA store during her junior year of high school and married a co-worker in 2002, but they later divorced. She was deployed to Iraq in June 2003.

England was engaged to fellow convicted war criminal and Abu Ghraib prison guard Charles Graner. In 2004, she gave birth to a son fathered by him She was paroled on March 1, 2007, after serving 521 days, or just over 17 months.

Later life

After serving her sentence, England returned to Fort Ashby, West Virginia, and stayed with friends and family. In July 2009, England released Tortured: Lynndie England, Abu Ghraib and the Photographs that Shocked the World, a biography that was set with a book tour that she hoped would rehabilitate her public image.

In March 2008, England told the German magazine Stern that the media was to blame for the consequences of the Abu Ghraib scandal. In a January 16, 2009 interview with The Guardian, England noted being pressured by Graner to pose for the prison photos.

In 2012, following her release, she stated that she did not regret her actions.

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File:Abu-ghraib-leash.jpg|England forcing an inmate, known to the guards as "Gus", to crawl and bark like a dog on a leash.

File:Abu Ghraib 53.jpg|Detainees were placed into a human pyramid. England and Graner posed for the picture.

File:AG-10B.JPG|England poses in front of a detainee being forced to masturbate.<!-- -->

File:Lynndie England handcuffs.jpg|England after she was sentenced to three years for prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib.

File:MiramarBrig.JPEG|Naval Consolidated Brig, Miramar, where England was imprisoned.

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See also

  • Standard Operating Procedure, 2008 American documentary film

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References

Further reading

  • – A semi-fictionalized account of Lynndie England.
  • 'What happens in war happens', a profile with the Guardian UK, January 3, 2009
  • Symbol Of Shame? – a CBS News article, May 7, 2004
  • "A new monster-in-chief" – Observer article by Mary Riddell, May 9, 2004
  • This American Life – 384 Fall Guy
  • Dickerscheid, P.J., and Vicki Smith, "Abu Ghraib scandal haunts Lynndie England", Military Times, June 29, 2009.