Camp X-Ray captives to get new cells

U.S. NAVAL BASE, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (Reuters) - The 300 Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners at the U.S. military's Camp X-Ray in Cuba will soon move out of the chain-link cells that prompted an outcry from human rights groups and into more solid structures, military officials say.

The most obvious improvement at the new prison camp is indoor plumbing.

Prison camp officials at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would not say when the captives from the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan will be moved into the new Camp Delta prison except that it was "imminent."

The new camp is made up of long rows of cells in sand-coloured buildings that look like elongated mobile homes. Each has a window. But a green mesh tarp on the perimeter fence blocks the view of the turquoise Caribbean waters just a few hundred yards (metres) away, a security measure intended to keep the prisoners from knowing their precise location.

Walls separating the cells are metal mesh, so prisoners will be able to see and chat with their immediate neighbours. But the outer walls are solid.

Officials said that will give them more privacy but make it harder to organise a hunger strike or camp-wide chanting of religious slogans, as they have done briefly at Camp X-Ray, because they will be unable to see and hear the other prisoners.

Each eight-foot (2.4 metre) by six foot, eight-inch (two metre) cell has a metal bed attached to the wall, a mattress, a low sink with running water and a floor-style toilet that flushes.

The indoor plumbing will ease the burden on the 600 military police guarding the prisoners. At Camp X-Ray, they must repeatedly shackle the prisoners and escort them from their cells to portable toilets, except in emergencies when the prisoners use plastic buckets in their cells.

"It's very labour intensive," said camp warden Lieutenant Colonel Bill Cline. "My MPs are emptying buckets."

RUNNING THE CAMP MORE EFFICIENT

The move to Camp Delta would make running the camp more efficient, said Maj. James Bell, a spokesman for the task force operating the prison camp.

The U.S. government, which faced criticism from some foreign allies as it began moving detainees from Afghanistan in January, does not consider the captives to be prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention but camp officials said they are honouring the "spirit of Geneva" by treating them humanely.

The government has announced plans to try some of them before military tribunals, though it has not said what charges they might face.

Earlier this month, Amnesty International criticised that as a "pick-and-choose approach" amounting to "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment."

The move out of the chain-link cells that critics called "cages" should make life more comfortable for the prisoners. But uncertainty over their fate still rankles and prompts the occasional angry outburst among captives. "We've had threats against us, that they're going to kill us," Cline said.

They have thrown shampoo bottles at the guards, an offence punished with the loss of a privilege -- no sweet tea for the rest of that day. But there have been no actual attacks on U.S. personnel since a prisoner bit a guard on the arm in mid-January.

Like Camp X-Ray, the new camp is ringed with barbed-wire fences and wooden lookout towers manned by sharpshooters.

MAIL, READING, RELIGION

The prisoners, who come from 33 nations, are starting to get mail from home, pray regularly with a Muslim chaplain and have been given one-person games and carefully screened books to pass the time -- Korans for the Muslim majority and a Bible for the lone Christian, plus religious commentaries and adventure stories.

Doctors at the Navy field hospital next to the new prison have performed 52 surgeries, mostly to treat bone infections from battlefield injuries.

Two prisoners who protested their uncertain fate by refusing to eat for 30 days were force-fed 2,000 calories a day through nasal feeding tubes for 10 days.

They were returned to the prison cells but still are not eating and probably will be taken back to the hospital in a few days for more forced feeding, said Navy captain Pat Alford, who commands the field hospital.

"They're quiet. They just don't want to eat," Alford said.

The others have gained an average of 14.5 pounds (6.5 kg) since arrival, Alford said. They initially found the food bland but camp officials have spiced up the dishes and added Middle Eastern recipes sent by the chaplain's wife.

Once the move is made, the hastily built Camp X-Ray will be left standing. The new camp has 408 cells finished and another 204 scheduled to be completed by the end of May, an indication that more prisoners held in Afghanistan will be sent to Guantanamo.

others have gained an average of 14.5 pounds (6.5 kg) since arrival, Alford said. They initially found the food bland but camp officials have spiced up the dishes and added Middle Eastern recipes sent by the chaplain's wife.

I am soo happy that these murderers are gaining weight and receive all the benefits of clothing, sanitation, etc. Unlike thousands of the mentally ill in this country that have been thrown out on the streets to fend for themselves.

"I am soo happy that these murderers are gaining weight and receive all the benefits of clothing, sanitation, etc. Unlike thousands of the mentally ill in this country that have been thrown out on the streets to fend for themselves."

Yea-yea...
-sigh-

..."Oh my white brother..." ~Firesign Theater~

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