Prison Abuse Disclosure Puts Family in Danger

ByABC News via logo
August 16, 2004, 8:21 AM

Aug. 16, 2004 -- When news of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison broke, Army Spc. Joseph Darby's family said they were proud the soldier revealed photos documenting the mistreatment. But they never expected their own friends and neighbors would turn on them for what they considered a brave disclosure.

In a note to his commander, Darby, 24, described the incidents and photographs he had seen, depicting the abuse by people in his own unit, the 372nd Military Police Company.

"We did not receive the response I thought we would. People were, they were mean, saying he was a walking dead man, he was walking around with a bull's-eye on his head. It was scary," Bernadette Darby, Joseph Darby's wife, said today on ABC News' Good Morning America.

Bernadette Darby said she was most surprised by the reactions of some of the people who knew their family.

"I received a reality check from the people in my community where Joe and I lived," she said. "I mean, I was an EMT, I was a firefighter I helped these people every day and then this happened and it was like everybody turned, you know, and I was very surprised."

Darby's family is sharing their story with GQ magazine and Good Morning America because they want Americans to understand what their family has gone through since news of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal first broke.

While Bernadette Darby said she is still pleased by her husband's decision to hand over the photos, she says it hasn't been easy on her family or her husband, who is still in protective military custody at an undisclosed location.

Even Darby's sister-in-law, Maxine Carroll, felt the disapproval of some individuals in her community. She said her home was even vandalized by people who disagreed with Joseph Darby's actions.

"They thought it was funny to write 'Iraq' on the fence," Carroll said.

Carroll said she's still satisfied with Darby's decision to come forward.

"We're over there to set a standard and to show them there's a better way of life, and we're going to teach you how to do it, and this is how we're teaching it? No," Carroll said.