Abu Ghraib, Iraq ? After months at Abu Ghraib prison, Hussein Sami did not complain of physical abuse upon his release. But Sami — among 293 detainees freed Friday — said guards shouted at and insulted inmates, and the prison was unsafe because insurgents target it with mortar rounds.

The release came a day after a surprise visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who recommended decreasing the prisoner population. Abuses of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers at Abu Ghraib — notorious as the site of executions and torture during Saddam Hussein’s regime — have caused a major scandal and damaged the credibility of the U.S.-led coalition.

Some of those freed Friday wept and waved to friends and relatives waiting outside. One bus carrying 40 prisoners left the jail and drove to an American military base in west Baghdad, where tribal leaders awaited them. One by one, prisoners got out, kneeled and prayed beside the bus. Then the bus departed, bound for other Baghdad neighborhoods.

U.S. Marines blocked both lanes of a highway as at least six buses left the prison compound.

The U.S. military freed 293 prisoners and planned to release 475 more next Friday, said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq.

The military periodically frees prisoners from Abu Ghraib, and Col. Jill Morgenthaler, a U.S. military spokeswoman, said detainees considered security risks are still being sent there, despite calls from some U.S. lawmakers to tear down the prison. She would not give a figure for new detainees.

Sami arrived at his home in the Dora neighborhood of Baghdad, where relatives slaughtered a sheep at the gates in celebration. He claimed he was never told why he was arrested and held for nine months. His father and a brother remain incarcerated, Sami said.

During his imprisonment, Sami said he feared insurgent attacks as well as the prison guards. On April 20, guerrillas fired a barrage of mortar rounds at the prison, killing 22 prisoners in an attack U.S. officials speculated was an attempt to spark a prison break or an uprising.

Released Iraqi detainees wave at relatives and friends from the window of the bus while leaving Abu Ghraib prison, outside Baghdad, Iraq. More than 300 Iraqi detainees were released from the prison Friday, a day after U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld made a surprise visit and insisted the Pentagon did not try to cover up abuses there.

Another former prisoner, Mohammed al-Musawi, complained he was humiliated by guards at least once during his 11-month incarceration.

“They forced me to take all my clothes off, and female prison guards were whispering and laughing at me, ” al-Musawi said. He was arrested in Baghdad for allegedly participating in an attack against a U.S. tank.

Al-Musawi also alleged American soldiers showed contempt for Islam’s holy book, the Quran.

“Late at night, drunken female soldiers used to come and trample on the Quran,” he said. “Where is the sanctity of Islam?”