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Camp Delta (Guantanamo Bay)

From Alfawiki
Camp Delta
Company typeDetention facility
IndustryDetainment
Founded2002
FounderUnited States Navy Seabees, Marine Engineers, Kellogg, Brown and Root
Headquarters
Guantanamo Bay
,
Cuba (U.S. Naval Base)
Area served
Detainees at Guantanamo Bay
Key people
U.S. Army military police, Navy Masters-at-Arms

Camp Delta is a permanent detainment facility located at Guantanamo Bay, established to succeed the interim Camp X-Ray site. Built between February and April 2002 by Navy Seabees, Marine Engineers, and personnel from Halliburton's subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root, it encompasses detention camps numbered 1 through 6, along with Camp Platinum, Camp Iguana, the Guantanamo psychiatric ward, Camp Echo, and Camp No. The detainees held here have ambiguous legal status because the camp lies outside U.S. sovereign territory. Reports of mistreatment and torture of prisoners have surfaced.

Security responsibilities are primarily assigned to U.S. Army military police and Navy Masters-at-Arms.

Conditions and facilities for detainees differ among the various camps. Newly arrived individuals are placed in the maximum-security Camp 3. Those who cooperate may be transferred progressively from Camp 2 to Camp 1, with the most compliant housed in Camp 4. Camp 4 offers amenities such as showers, toilets, shared living spaces, individual beds, and lockers. In this camp, detainees wear white jumpsuits (contrasting with the orange uniforms in other camps), eat together, receive special dietary supplements, and enjoy longer shower and exercise periods.

Camp one

Camp One accommodates detainees designated as "enemy combatants in extrajudicial detention." Despite earlier reports of its closure, Human Rights Watch observed in June 2008 that it still contained 25 non-compliant detainees confined in adjacent cells.

Camp three

This camp was used to detain individuals classified as enemy combatants under extrajudicial detention. Although it was officially shut down in 2006, Human Rights Watch reported in June 2008 that around six non-compliant detainees remained isolated there. The cells were arranged to prevent detainees from seeing one another.

Camp four

Camp Four is designed similarly to a conventional Prisoner of War camp, featuring communal dormitories and unrestricted daytime access to exercise areas, recreational games, and reading materials. Only detainees assessed as "compliant" are housed here; they wear white or tan uniforms that set them apart from the orange attire worn by "non-compliant" prisoners.

Camp five

According to Deputy Guard Commander Jeff Hayhurst, Camp Five was inaugurated in 2004 with an investment of $17.5 million. Its design was inspired by a maximum-security prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, and constructed by Kellogg, Brown and Root to accommodate the most uncooperative detainees.

By September 2006, this camp had a capacity for 100 detainees but was approximately half occupied. Initial reports suggested it housed fourteen "high value detainees" transferred from CIA custody; however, these individuals were actually confined within the secretive Camp Seven.

The Department of Defense confirmed that Mohammad Ahmed Abdullah Saleh Al Hanashi died by apparent suicide on June 1, 2009, while undergoing force-feeding restrained in a chair at Camp Five.

Camp Five Echo

Known as a "disciplinary block," Camp Five Echo is reserved for "non-compliant" inmates. Legal authorities have criticized its conditions as inhumane due to cramped cells—half the size of those in Camp Five—equipped with squat toilets, intense lighting, and inadequate ventilation. In 2011, David Remes condemned Camp Five Echo for violating the Geneva Conventions, characterizing it as reminiscent of Guantánamo's darker past.

Camp Six

Built by Halliburton, Camp Six was designed based on the layout of medium-security prisons in the United States federal system. It consists of individual cells organized around a shared dining area, which was originally intended to enable detainees who complied with regulations to interact during certain times. Nevertheless, prior to its completion, policy shifted to restrict detainees to their cells except for showers, solitary exercise, or authorized activities. This change rendered the communal areas unused, effectively converting the camp into a high-security environment.

In April 2010, The Guardian released photographs depicting televisions installed in common spaces where detainees were shackled to the floor while watching.

Camp Seven

Known alternatively as Camp Platinum, Camp Seven is a highly secured facility excluded from media tours authorized by the Pentagon. In February 2012, six military attorneys representing detainees held there asserted that the conditions at Camp Seven did not comply with the minimum humane treatment standards mandated by the Geneva Conventions.

Prisoner torture

In 2005, Arabic interpreter Erik Saar disclosed that inmates at Camp Delta were subjected to sexual interrogation methods and physical assaults conducted by "snatch squads," with some incidents resulting in significant injuries. He also revealed that certain U.S. personnel intentionally violated provisions of the Geneva Conventions.

In November 2007, WikiLeaks published the "Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedures", a comprehensive 238-page document detailing protocols for managing hunger strikes, psychological tactics used against detainees, intimidation through military dogs, and burial procedures for deceased Muslim prisoners. The American Civil Liberties Union expressed concerns regarding detainees being hidden from observation by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

See also

External links

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