(Washington, DC) -- The Defense Department is preparing to release pictures of alleged prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The American Civil Liberties Union says the release, scheduled to come sometime before the end of May, comes in response to an open records lawsuit filed by the ACLU.

The civil liberties organization says the photos were taken at facilities other than Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

An ACLU attorney says the photos will give, quote, "visual proof that prisoner abuse by U.S. personnel was not aberrational but widespread, reaching far beyond the walls of Abu Ghraib." The ACLU says 21 photographs will be released and that the government, quote, "also is processing for release a substantial number of other images." The Defense Department hasn't yet commented on the scheduled photo release.

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