The Baghdad Central Prison, formerly known as Abu Ghraib prison ( ; also Abu Ghuraib, lit. 'Father of Raven', or 'Place of Ravens') is in Abu Ghraib, an Iraqi city 32 km (20 mi) west of Baghdad. It was built by British contractors in the 1950s. Observers estimated that in 2001, the prison held as many as 15,000 inmates.[citation needed]