The new commanding officer of Iraq's US-run prisons threw open the gates of Abu Ghraib prison yesterday to Western and Arab journalists. Stephen Farrell, Times Middle East correspondent, left, was there.

"As damage limitation exercises go, this one went badly wrong. If the new commanding officer of Abu Ghraib, Major General Geoffrey Miller, hoped that the party of journalists he invited to tour the jail would leave with a new respect for the humane way prisoners were treated, he was doomed to disappointment.

"As the bus rolled in past the gate, where a sign hung reading 'Deadly Force Authorised', we were greeted by the sight of Iraqi prisoners milling aimlessly behind the razor wire fences of their open-air compound.

"Their living conditions were basic in the extreme - nothing more than tents pitched on sandy dirt in the full glare of the early summer sun. The compound was ringed by searchlights, and American soldiers stood guard in watchtowers, barricaded in with sandbags.

"When the prisoners saw the bus, it was as if they were electrified. They ran towards the wire screaming and imploring and holding out their arms. Somehow word had got around that the bus contained journalists, and they realised that this was their opportunity to have their say.

"The fact that the guards banned us from interviewing or photographing them was irrelevant. They couldn't stop the prisoners shouting out to us through the wire, as they did at great length.

"'Take us home!' one screamed. 'End this tragedy!' implored another. 'Our children our waiting for us!' wept a third.

"There were extraordinary scenes. One man unstrapped his false leg and waved it about. Others waved crutches in the air. Some stripped to the waist.

"'Come closer, they won't let us talk to you!' one shouted. 'Is this the freedom and democracy they promised?'

"One of the most surprising aspects of this situation was that even as these chaotic protests were noisily taking place before our eyes, the US prison guards were talking to us in normal tones of voice, assuring us that they had a good relationship with the detainees.

"This was the first impression of the journalists who toured Abu Ghraib, and it was the abiding image that stayed with us all for the rest of the trip. Far from being reassured, we were all shocked.

"Next they gave us a guided tour of the prison hospital and the interrogation rooms. Hospital officials were keen to tell us that the large number of injured inmates we saw had almost all been hurt, not by mistreatment by their guards, but when anti-coalition guerillas fired mortars into the jail.