Tens of thousands of IS prisoners are being held in Kurdish-controlled prisons in northeast Syria and the prisoners have escaped several times as the prisons are overcrowded and the security situation is not satisfactory.

The New York Times released a report warning of the poor conditions in the Kurdish-controlled prisons in northern Syria, quoting experts as saying that If sufficient measures are not taken, the prisoner s will continue to scape.

The newspaper quoted American officials as saying that the US Department of Defense and Foreign Affairs are considering the possibility of building new prisons in the areas controlled by Syrian Kurds and the necessary funding has been allocated for the measure.

The feasibility and location of the new prisons were scheduled for early 2020, but the outbreak of coronavirus delayed the programme, according to the report. However, U.S. officials plan to resume building new prisons in a near future.

The U.S. has increased the budget for the repair and construction of new prisons from $10 million to $20 million, with $4 million per project.

American officials have also said that between 500,000 and one million dollars have been allocated to fund Kurdish security forces to guard the prisons.

The Syrian Kurdish experts and officials have acknowledged that the United States and Syria should find a more serious and long-term solution to the problem, noting that foreign countries are not willing to take back the IS foreign national prisoners.

Reporter’s code: 50101