American and Iraqi inspectors have found Iraq's prison problems of being overcrowded and signs of abuse, a senior U.S. official said at a briefing on Friday.

"While there were overcrowded conditions, there were no signs of recent abuse," said Maj. Gen. William Webster, who commands a 30,000-strong force responsible for security in Baghdad.

"There were detainees who talked about having been abused before, and some of them showed signs of that," Webster said.

American and Iraqi inspectors made the new findings at a Baghdad facility on Dec. 20 and one in Tal Afar on Wednesday, US officials said,

Webster continued that a committee of Iraqi government and U.S. officials was continuing its investigation and inspections of Iraqi jails.

More than 170 Iraqi detainees were found malnourished and tortured at an Iraqi Interior Ministry detention center last month. Iraqi and US officials have admitted that some of the detainees appeared to have been abused and tortured.

The United States has been helping the Iraqi authorities conduct the investigation.

Source: Xinhua