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US may send Guantanamo inmates to special prison: report
US officials are considering a plan that would move some Guantanamo Bay "war on terror" detainees to a special US prison camp that would also contain courtrooms and long-term living quarters, the Washington Post reported on Monday.
US officials are considering a plan that would move some Guantanamo Bay "war on terror" detainees to a special US prison camp that would also contain courtrooms and long-term living quarters, the Washington Post reported on Monday.
The hybrid site would be jointly run by the departments of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security, with each responsible for different inmates, the Post reported, citing unnamed administration officials.
The site would include courtrooms for federal criminal trials and military commissions to prosecute terror suspects; a maximum security lockdown for prisoners held in indefinite detention and those serving out their terms; and living quarters for detainees cleared for release but who have no country willing to accept them, the Post reported.
An unnamed government official told the newspaper that the site is one idea being considered by a task force looking into US detention policy, but has not yet reached the level of recommendation.
Sites under consideration include the Fort Leavenworth, Kansas military prison, and a maximum-security prison in the economically hard-hit state of Michigan currently scheduled to be closed, according to The Post.
President Barack Obama is facing mounting challenges over how and where to try or release detainees as he seeks to meet his January deadline to close Guantanamo, the US naval base in southeastern Cuba where 229 terror suspects are still held.
Since January, 11 detainees have been transferred from Guantanamo, including four to their home countries, and another was flown to New York, where he faces criminal charges in US federal court.
