Camp Delta
Encyclopedia
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq...
that replaced the temporary facilities of Camp X-Ray
Camp X-Ray
Camp X-Ray was a temporary detention facility at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp of Joint Task Force Guantanamo on the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.The first twenty detainees arrived at Guantanamo on January 11, 2002....
. Its first facilities were built between February 27 and mid-April 2002 by Navy Seabees
Seabee
Seabees are members of the United States Navy construction battalions. The word Seabee is a proper noun that comes from the initials of Construction Battalion, of the United States Navy...
, Marine Engineers, and workers from Halliburton
Halliburton
Halliburton is the world's second largest oilfield services corporation with operations in more than 70 countries. It has hundreds of subsidiaries, affiliates, branches, brands and divisions worldwide and employs over 50,000 people....
subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root
Kellogg, Brown and Root
KBR, Inc. is an American engineering, construction and private military contracting company, formerly a subsidiary of Halliburton, headquartered in Houston. The company also has large offices in Arlington, Birmingham, Newark, Delaware and Leatherhead, UK. After Halliburton acquired Dresser...
. It is composed of detention camps 1 through 6, Camp Platinum, Camp Iguana
Camp Iguana
Camp Iguana is a small compound in the detainment camp complex on the US Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Camp Iguana originally held three child detainees who camp spokesmen then claimed were the only detainees under age 16. It was closed in the winter of 2004 when the three were sent home...
, the Guantanamo psychiatric ward
Guantanamo psychiatric ward
In addition to the regular camps for detainees held in extrajudicial detention there is a Guantanamo psychiatric ward at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp complex in Cuba....
, Camp Echo
Camp Echo
Camp Echo is one of seven Guantanamo Bay detention camps that make up the main Camp Delta, at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, run by the United States military. The facility is used to hold detainees in solitary confinement...
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
Most of the security forces are U.S. Army military police, and U.S. Navy Masters-at-Arms
Master-at-arms
A master-at-arms may be a naval rating responsible for discipline and law enforcement, an army officer responsible for physical training, or a member of the crew of a merchant ship responsible for security and law enforcement.-Royal Navy:The master-at-arms is a ship's senior rating, comparable in...
.
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.
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.Camp three
Camp three is one of the camps that held detainees classified as "enemy combatantEnemy combatant
Enemy combatant is a term historically referring to members of the armed forces of the state with which another state is at war. Prior to 2008, the definition was: "Any person in an armed conflict who could be properly detained under the laws and customs of war." In the case of a civil war or an...
s in extrajudicial detention
Extrajudicial detention
Arbitrary or extrajudicial detention is the detention of individuals by a state, without ever laying formal charges against them.Although it has a long history of legitimate use in wartime , detention without charge, sometimes in secret, has been one of the hallmarks of totalitarian states...
."
Although the camp was closed in 2006 Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
reported in June 2008 that it was then used to house half a dozen non-compliant detainees, who had to be housed in isolation.
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 detentionExtrajudicial detention
Arbitrary or extrajudicial detention is the detention of individuals by a state, without ever laying formal charges against them.Although it has a long history of legitimate use in wartime , detention without charge, sometimes in secret, has been one of the hallmarks of totalitarian states...
. 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 CommanderCommander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
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
Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute
The Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute, is a federal prison for adult males located at the intersection of State Road 63 and Springhill Drive, two miles south of Terre Haute, Indiana United States...
in Terre Haute, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
."
The camp was built by Kellogg, Brown and Root
Kellogg, Brown and Root
KBR, Inc. is an American engineering, construction and private military contracting company, formerly a subsidiary of Halliburton, headquartered in Houston. The company also has large offices in Arlington, Birmingham, Newark, Delaware and Leatherhead, UK. After Halliburton acquired Dresser...
.
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.
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
Camp seven (Guantanamo)
Camp Seven is the most secure camp within the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.Its existence was kept secret for the first two years of its use....
.
The Department of Defense reports that Mohammad Ahmed Abdullah Saleh Al Hanashi
Mohammad Ahmed Abdullah Saleh Al Hanashi
Mohammad Ahmed Abdullah Saleh Al Hanashi was a citizen of Yemen, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.Al Hanashi's Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 78....
committed suicide
Guantanamo suicide attempts
On June 10, 2006 three prisoners held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps allegedly committed suicide. The United States Department of Defense stopped reporting Guantanamo suicide attempts in 2002....
in camp five on June 1 2009.
Camp six
Halliburton
Halliburton is the world's second largest oilfield services corporation with operations in more than 70 countries. It has hundreds of subsidiaries, affiliates, branches, brands and divisions worldwide and employs over 50,000 people....
, was modeled on US Federal medium-security penitentiaries.
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.
The communal areas were left unused.
This transformed the facility to a high-security facility.
In April 2010 The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
published a photo essay, that showed that a TV had been installed in the common areas.
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
- Platt AmendmentPlatt AmendmentThe Platt Amendment of 1901 was a rider appended to the Army Appropriations Act presented to the U.S. Senate by Connecticut Republican Senator Orville H. Platt replacing the earlier Teller Amendment. Approved on May 22, 1903, it stipulated the conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops...
- Document that Guarantees U.S. Navy use in Cuba - Combatant Status Review TribunalCombatant Status Review TribunalThe Combatant Status Review Tribunals were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were established July 7, 2004 by order of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense...
- Qur'an desecration controversy of 2005Qur'an desecration controversy of 2005The 2005 Qur'an desecration controversy began when Newsweek's April 30 issue contained a report asserting that United States prison guards or interrogators had deliberately damaged a copy of Islam's holiest book, the Qur'an....
- Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuseAbu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuseBeginning in 2004, human rights violations in the form of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, including torture, rape, sodomy, and homicide of prisoners held in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq came to public attention...
- Torture and the United StatesTorture and the United StatesTorture in the United States includes documented and alleged cases of torture both inside the United States and outside its borders by U.S. government personnel...
- Guantanamo military commissions
- Administrative Review BoardAdministrative Review BoardThe Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the suspects held by the United States in Camp Delta in the United States Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba....
External links
- Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedures
- Camp Delta: Still in Need of Closure by James Day, Daily Metro, July 15 2009
- Photos - Inside Camp Delta, Guantanamo Bay