The "Dungeon Above the Ground"

Guantanamo's Camp Six (above), built by Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root, opened in late 2006. According to prison designer John VanNatta, the $24 million complex is oriented to “long-term incarceration” and contains 200 cells. Today, the prison houses the fourteen "high value" detainees transferred to Guantanamo from CIA black sites in October 2006, plus dozens of other inmates including Australia's David Hicks. US lawyer Sabin Willett recently visited the new complex. Willett found at Camp Six "a degree of cruelty universally condemned under all bodies of law related to incarceration. The conditions . . . constitute an immediate and urgent threat to the (prisoners') mental and physical health."

He added:

"The cell walls, ceiling and floor are solid metal. Each cell contains a bed, toilet, sink and metal mirror. No cell admits any natural light or air. There are no windows or openings in the walls, floor, or ceiling, except strips of glass approximately four inches wide by 24 inches high (10 x 60 cm) in and adjacent to the metal door. The glass gives a view of an interior corridor where MPs (military police) are stationed, and of a clock. The prisoners are constantly watched by MPs as they sleep, as they eat, as they defecate. They have great difficulty sleeping and are frequently awakened by banging or shouts of MPs. Neither inside the cell nor in rec time do the prisoners ever see another living thing, except MPs and the other five men in the pod. Except for being held by gloved MPs during transfers they never touch another living thing. They never see, smell, or touch plants, soil, the sea, or any creature except insects."


(More here, here and here. Photo: AFP)