25 January 2005

by Anai Rhoads

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AnaiRhoads.org - Alarming reports have surfaced recently that describe the desperation by detainess currently held in the Guantanamo Bay prison.

The majority of suicide attempts began in 2003 when Major General Geoffrey Miller was ordered to oversee the prison. Miller was fully authorised to obtain further information, no matter the cost, from the detainees held there.

Not long after he began making the rounds of the facility, 23 detainees expressed their frustration by attempting a mass suicide hanging. There are reports of additional individual suicide attempts around this time as well.

Detainees used their own clothing and whatever other material found in their quarters to create makeshift nooses between 18 August to 26 August 2003. Ten prisoners collectively attempted suicide on 22 August 2003.

All in all there were 350 incidents in 2003 where the detainees inflicted some harm to themselves, including 120 hanging attempts. Only two of the 23 that tried to hang themselves were given psychiatric treatment and medical care by the U.S. military.

Incidents dropped somewhat in 2004 when General Jay Hood succeeded Miller, and since a psychiatric ward was set up to deal with emotional issues. According to Hood there were "only" 110 incidents of self-inflicted abuse in 2004.

Little media attention was given to this incident since officials refused to discuss the details. The United States military dismissed the prisoners attempts, calling it all "a cry for attention".

The Washington Post previously reported that under Miller, prisoners' heads were kept hooded as they were forced to remain naked for more than 30 days a time. Most were threatened with attack dogs and left out in extreme weather conditions.

The Guantanamo Bay prison currently holds 558 male prisoners from Arab, Muslim, and South Asian countries. All are held in one-person cells inside three maximum security camps known as Camps I, II and III. These are said to have replaced the open holding "pens" known as Camp X-Ray.

The majority of the detainees have never been given access to legal council in the three years they have been detained there. Many admitted guilt after being interrogated for hours, even as they privately admit they know nothing.

Three boys between the ages of 13 and 15 are among the inmates and are considered "enemy combatants".

The Bush administration is seeking to expand the prison and provide more beds in the event more "terrorists" are sent over to Guantanamo Bay, even though the use of the Bay as a prison is illegal. The U.S. government has a lease with Cuba, which gives the United States the right to use the Bay as a coaling or naval station only.

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