The Meydan Prison was a deserted house owned by a Christian family from Mosul before ISIS seized it. In 2014, ISIS turned it into a Hisba prison for the detention of men who had violated dress codes and rules regarding public behavior or religious commitment.
The house, built of mud and bricks, has two stories and a large crypt at the bottom. The ground floor rooms were used for administration. Two adjacent rooms on the top floor were converted into group cells and the windows were covered with iron bars. The crypt was used as a mass torture room.
This information, as well as other details, was obtained through an architectural analysis of the building conducted by the ISIS Prisons Museum (IPM) team after ISIS was expelled from Mosul.
Seven testimonies from former prisoners who were detained at the prison for anywhere between a week to six months also provided information. These interviews were carried out in 2023 and 2024. The following virtual tour shines a light on all the details of the prison.
Together with videos and additional information, it shows how interrogation sessions were conducted, what daily life in the prison was like, and what torture methods were commonly used. While creating the tour, we also compared the modifications made by ISIS to the Meydan Prison to other Hisba prisons in Syria and Iraq. While analyzing these other prisons, reference was made to documents issued by the Hisba Diwan that clarified their vision for such prisons.
The architectural study of the building shows cracks and fractures in the walls caused by Coalition airstrikes on the old bridge near the Meydan Prison. This bombing also damaged some rooms and demolished or burnt parts of others.