Guantánamo Bay detention facility is a United States military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The prison, located on a U.S. naval base, has been used to detain suspected terrorists since 2002. It is sometimes called GTMO, or “Gitmo,” for short. The facility is operated by the Joint Task Force Guantanamo, a military command run by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Background.
The United States gained control of land near Guantánamo Bay, in southeastern Cuba, under the terms of a 1903 treaty. The treaty allowed the U.S. Navy to build and maintain a base at the site.
On September 11, 2001, members of the terrorist network al-Qa`ida attacked U.S. targets using hijacked commercial jetliners. Nearly 3,000 people were killed. Following the attacks, U.S. President George W. Bush called for a “war on terror” to eliminate international terrorist groups. On October 7, the United States and its allies launched a military campaign to destroy al-Qa`ida camps in Afghanistan. In the course of two months of intense fighting, the U.S.-led coalition killed or captured many opposing fighters. Agents of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) also captured suspected terrorists in other locations throughout the world.
The Bush administration faced the question of how to handle the detention, interrogation, and potential prosecution of captured terror suspects. Bush categorized the suspects as “illegal combatants,” a status that disqualified them from protections given traditional prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. Many suspects were transferred to secret CIA-run prisons or to the custody of foreign governments.
Prison facility.
Starting in January 2002, a number of terror suspects were taken to Guantánamo Bay to be held in a temporary military prison known as “Camp X-ray.” The prisoners—including suspected terrorist trainers, recruiters, financiers, and bomb makers—were transferred to Camp Delta, a permanent facility, in April. Additional sections of the prison were completed in 2003, 2004, and 2006.
At its largest, the Guantánamo facility had seven subsections for detainees: Camps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. The facility also has quarters for guards and other military personnel; a hospital; and spaces dedicated for interrogations and other activities. Detainees at Guantánamo have had access to limited social, recreational, religious, and educational programs. Military officials announced the closure of Camp 7 in 2021.
Legal issues.
Some of the prisoners held at Guantánamo were tried by military courts. Bush administration officials, however, claimed that the government could hold detainees without charges for an indefinite period. In mid-2006, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that these policies were a violation of U.S. law and the Geneva Conventions.
In response to the court’s ruling, the U.S. Congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006. The act authorized the government to hold terror suspects at Guantánamo or at secret locations throughout the world. The act forbade U.S. personnel from torturing suspects, but it permitted the president to authorize unspecified “coercive” methods of interrogation that involved the use of force. The law also provided legal protection to U.S. officials who interrogated detainees.
Reports of poor conditions and the use of controversial interrogation techniques at Guantánamo became the focus of significant international criticism. Since 2002, many detainees have conducted hunger strikes to protest prison conditions, the lack of legal rights, and the alleged disruption of prayer meetings.
Later developments.
In early 2009, President Barack Obama announced that he intended to close the prison by early 2010. In May 2009, however, the U.S. Senate voted to block funding needed to close the facility and transfer the prisoners to federal prisons.
According to the Department of Defense, 780 prisoners were held at Guantánamo from 2002 to 2014. More than 600 prisoners were transferred to the custody of foreign governments during this time. Prisoner transfers accelerated during the last years of Obama’s presidency. The prison held about 45 terror suspects in January 2017. In 2018, the administration of President Donald J. Trump transferred one detainee to a detention facility in Saudi Arabia. The administration of President Joe Biden transferred its first prisoner, a Moroccan man, to Morocco in 2021. About 30 prisoners remain at Guantánamo.
