Inside the secret ISIS prison, where guards deradicalize fighters with painting exercises, prisoners are piled on top of one another, and buckets are used as toilets

BILD / Giorgos Moutafis

• Somewhere in the east of Syria, there is a heavily secured and secret prison exclusively for ISIS fighters.
• Run by the Kurdish YPG militia, the guards are afraid of showing their faces or talking about what goes on in the outside world, in case prisoners revolt or try to carry out revenge attacks.
• There are buckets in a corner of one of the prison's wings, in case there are no available restrooms.
• In the infirmary, prisoners can be heard crying and are often seriously injured.
• The prison commander says they're trying to deradicalize the former ISIS fighters using painting exercises.
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They sit, squat, lie, stand in their boilersuits, all huddled together.

Then they wait.

What are they waiting for? No one is sure at this precise moment.

Somewhere in the east of Syria — where exactly, it can't be said  — is the largest prison for former ISIS soldiers.

In a small town near the Iraqi border, the remaining ISIS fighters fought one final battle with the Kurdish YPG militia and their Western allies in the spring.

Higher-ranking ISIS members had already gone into hiding, especially those who'd come from elsewhere and who didn't have the connections or money to smuggle themselves out in time.

The prisoners have no idea of what's gone on in the outside world since they were captured. They're only allowed to go to the courtyard for an hour a day — otherwise, they're completely isolated from the outside world by the walls of the former factory.

Here's what it's like inside. 

The prison's commander says the prisoners are being held as they were part of the ISIS caliphate

The prison is in a heavily secured area near the city of Hasakah but the exact location of the prison has to be kept secret, according to the Kurdish YPG militia.

The Kurdish commander wears a balaclava as many of the prison guards do too, to mask their identities when dealing with the ISIS members — the fear of acts of revenge should the fighters be released is far too great.

"We have prisoners from over 40 nations, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Libya, the US, France, Switzerland, and Germany," the prison commander says. "They were all captured during the Battle of Baghuz."

Prisoners wear orange overalls throughout the prison

Unlike prisoners in other Kurdish prisons, they all wear orange, just like those held captive by ISIS in propaganda and execution videos.

ISIS was originally trying to mimic the clothing worn by prisoners in Guantánamo.

The prison commander says the guards are trying to deradicalize the former ISIS fighters by giving them painting exercises

The Kurdish guards are using methods to deradicalize the fighters that may seem a little unorthodox.

"We change their minds," explains one of the guards.

While visiting a prisoner in his cell, we find a paintbox and a brightly colored painting, with flowers set against a vivid landscape.

Whether or not he painted it isn't clear, as the man is clearly intimidated and doesn't dare raise his gaze.

Comprehensive deradicalization measures aren't possible at the moment, the commander explains: "We had to withdraw some of our guards because of the Turkish offensive against us."

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