Major McElwain declined to say how much the consolidation cost. In time, he said, the move will most likely mean a reduction in troops from 1,500 National Guard members, who primarily serve nine-month duty tours in detention, which is estimated to cost $ 13 million per prisoner a year.
Mr. Mohammed and other high-ranking detainees were held in a secret location at Camp 7 after they were transferred to Guantánamo in September 2006. They spent three to four years in the secret overseas prison network of the George W. Bush administration, known as the Black Places, where the CIA held its prisoners. subjected to sleep deprivation, forced nudity, sailing and other physical and psychological abuse.
By segregating prisoners, under the supervision of a special guard unit called the Task Force Platinum, intelligence agencies were able to strictly monitor and control their communication and prevent them from discovering what had happened to them. Defense attorneys who were eventually granted access to the men were required by security checks to keep the conversations secret, including court reports accusing government agents of state-sponsored torture.
Camp 7 has long been one of the most secretive places in Guantanamo. The Pentagon declined to disclose its cost, which supplier built it and when. Journalists were not allowed to see him, lawyers were required to obtain a court order to visit, and his whereabouts were considered secret, although sources indicated that satellite map base.
In the short term, Major McElwain said, Camp 7 “will be rehabilitated, closed and locked.”
“The plan for his final disposal has yet to be determined,” he said.
Former CIA prisoners were mostly isolated in their early years in Camp 7. Everyone was allowed to talk to only one other prisoner through the tarpaulin during recreation, in conversations that were recorded for intelligence purposes.
Their lawyers described the conditions as intoxicating until recent years, when commanders allowed inmates to eat and pray together under strict supervision. They also had a cell where they could prepare food to pass the time.