Camp Delta (Guantanamo Bay)

Camp Delta is a permanent detainment camp at Guantanamo Bay that replaced the temporary facilities of Camp X-Ray. Its first facilities were built between February 27 and mid-April 2002 by Navy Seabees, Marine Engineers, and workers from Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root. It is composed of detention camps 1 through 6, Camp Platinum, Camp Iguana, the Guantanamo psychiatric ward, Camp Echo and Camp No. The prisoners, referred to as detainees have uncertain rights due to their location not on American soil. There are allegations of torture and abuse of prisoners [1]

Most of the security forces are U.S. Army military police, and U.S. Navy Masters-at-Arms.

The camps have different amenities and levels of comfort. The arduous assignments given to different parts of Camp Delta is determined by how much the prisoner cooperates with guards and interrogators, with the exception of newly arriving detainees who always go to maximum security in Camp 3. Thereafter, cooperative detainees are moved to Camp 2 and then Camp 1 as rewards for cooperation. When detainees cooperate and are thought to show no security risk they can be moved to the buildings of Camp 4, which have a shower and lavatory, plus four communal living rooms for 10 detainees each. In Camp 4, each detainnee has a bed and a locker. Camp 4 detainees may eat their meals together, instead of alone in their own cells as in the other camps, and Camp 4 detainees are set apart by their white jump suits, in contrast to the orange worn by detainees in other camps. In addition to these benefits, detainees are also allowed special meal supplements to the their diets, along with longer shower periods and longer exercise periods.

Contents

Camp one

Camp one is one of the camps where the United States held detainees classified as "enemy combatants in extrajudicial detention". Although the camp was reported to have been closed Human Rights Watch reported in June 2008 that it currently houses non-compliant detainees. At that time they said the camp held 25 detainees in adjacent cells.[2]

Camp three

Camp three is one of the camps that held detainees classified as "enemy combatants in extrajudicial detention."[3]

Although the camp was closed in 2006 Human Rights Watch reported in June 2008 that it was then used to house half a dozen non-compliant detainees, who had to be housed in isolation.[3] The detainees' cells were sufficiently isolated from one another that they couldn't see one another. Additionally, there were noise generators near each cell so they couldn't hear one another.

Camp four

Camp four is one of the camps that make up the complex of camps for detainees held in extrajudicial detention. Camp four is the camp that most closely resembles a traditional Prisoner of War camp. Captives held there live in communal dormitories, and have day long access to communal exercise yard, games, and books.

Camp authorities only allowed the detainees they considered "compliant" to stay in camp four. The detainees in Camp four are allowed to wear white or tan uniforms which distinguish them from the orange uniforms "non-compliant" detainees wear.

Camp five

According to Commander Jeff Hayhurst, deputy commander of the Guard force, "...the camp opened in 2004, cost $17.5 million. It’s modeled on a max security facility in Terre Haute, Indiana." The camp was built by Kellogg, Brown and Root. Hayhurst said that the camp was used to hold the most non-compliant detainees.

In September 2006 National Public Radio reported that the camp could hold 100 detainees, and was about half full.[5][6]

Initially the press was told the fourteen "high value detainees" transferred from CIA custody on September 5th, 2006 were held in Camp five. But they were in fact held in a small, secret, ultra high security facility -- Camp seven.[5][6]

The Department of Defense reports that Mohammad Ahmed Abdullah Saleh Al Hanashi committed suicide in camp five on June 1 2009.[7][8][9]

Camp six

Camp Six, constructed by Halliburton, was modeled on US Federal medium-security penitentiaries.[10][11][12][10][11]

It was constructed to have individual cells that surrounded and looked in on a communal mess area, where it was planned compliant detainees could interact for part of the day. However, while the building was still under construction, the decision was made to confine all detainees to their cells, except when they were taken to shower, taken for solitary exercise, or for official business.[13][14] The communal areas were left unused. This transformed the facility to a high-security facility.

In April 2010 The Guardian published a photo essay, that showed that a TV had been installed in the common areas.[15] Detainees were shackled to the floor during their TV privileges.

Camp seven/Camp Platinum

Camp Seven, also known as Camp Platinum, the most secure camp for captives currently operating on the base, is not part of the Camp Delta complex.

See also

References

  1. ^ Paul Harris (2005-05-08). "Soldier lifts lid on Camp Delta: For the first time, an army insider blows the whistle on human rights abuses at Guantánamo". Observer-Guardian (U.K). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/may/08/usa.guantanamo. 
  2. ^ Human Rights Watch (June, 2008). "The Range of Prison Facilities at Guantanamo". Locked Up Alone: Detention Conditions and Mental Health at Guantanamo (Human Rights Watch). http://www.hrw.org/reports/2008/us0608/2.htm. Retrieved May 31, 2009. 
  3. ^ a b "Locked Up Alone: Detention Conditions and Mental Health at Guantanamo". Human Rights Watch. June, 2008. http://www.hrw.org/reports/2008/us0608/index.htm. Retrieved May 31, 2009. 
  4. ^ http://www.fff.org/comment/com1006c.asp
  5. ^ a b "Bush Offers Congress Plan on Terrorism Tribunals". National Public Radio. 2006-09-06. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5776232. Retrieved 2009-01-31. 
  6. ^ a b "Bush acknowledges existence of CIA prisons". CTV News. 2006-09-07. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/scfcn/CTVNews/20060906/gitmo_trials_060906/Health/. Retrieved 2008-09-28. 
  7. ^ David McFadden, Danica Coto (2009-06-02). "Military: Gitmo detainee dies of apparent suicide". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2009-06-02. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fhostednews%2Fap%2Farticle%2FALeqM5hVbNZcN5Ks9DDeoPRHAwXW576ClwD98IPSG01&date=2009-06-02. 
  8. ^ David McFadden, Danica Coto (2009-06-02). "Military: Gitmo detainee dies of apparent suicide". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2009-05-25. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fhostednews%2Fap%2Farticle%2FALeqM5hVbNZcN5Ks9DDeoPRHAwXW576ClwD98IR8SO0&date=2009-06-02. "'Salih was being force-fed in a restraint chair; the other six surviving inmates are being force-fed from bed,' Remes said, adding that he didn't think the Yemeni had any legal representation until two lawyers arrived in February. 'They were due to see him for the first time in a couple of weeks,' he said." 
  9. ^ "U.S: Gitmo detainee dies of apparent suicide". MSNBC. 2009-06-02. Archived from the original on 2009-06-02. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.msnbc.msn.com%2Fid%2F31069767%2F&date=2009-06-02. 
  10. ^ a b Jonathan Pearlman (November 28, 2006). "Hicks's window on the world". Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/hickss-window-on-the-world/2006/11/27/1164476134575.html. Retrieved 2008-02-01. 
  11. ^ a b Andrew Buncombe (July 30, 2006). "New maximum-security jail to open at Guantanamo Bay". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/new-maximumsecurity-jail-to-open-at-guantanamo-bay-409881.html. Retrieved 2008-02-01. 
  12. ^ "Halliburton Gets Gitmo Contract". Fox News. June 21, 2005. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,159930,00.html. Retrieved 2008-02-01. 
  13. ^ Nicki Thomas (May 30, 2007). "'He is a broken young man'". Edmonton Sun. http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2007/05/30/4221679.html. Retrieved 2008-02-01. 
  14. ^ Ben Fox (February 3, 2007). "Life Harsher in New Guantanamo Unit". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/03/AR2007020300759_pf.html. Retrieved 2008-02-01. 
  15. ^ Tim Dirven/Panos Pictures (2010-03-31). "Eyewitness: Screen break at Guantánamo Bay". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/picture/2010/mar/31/guantanamo-bay-usa#. Retrieved 2010-04-05. "Guards stand inside the TV room of camp six at the US naval base in Cuba. Detainees at the maximum security facility wear shackles when they watch television." 

External links