The 10-year anniversary of the arrival of the first detainees at the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, offers few opportunities for celebration. The prison has been described as “arguably the most expensive prison on earth” and human rights activists have voiced concerns about detainees’ lack of access to the U.S. court system and a steady stream of reports of abuse and torture. The 10-year history of the Guantánamo Bay detention camp can best be evaluated through the human and economic costs imposed on both the U.S. taxpayers and detainees. Here are some relevant numbers:
10 years since the first 20 detainees arrived at Guantánamo Bay’s Camp X-Ray
1 year, 11 months, 21 days since President Barack Obama’s deadline to close Gitmo
779 detainees incarcerated at Guantánamo Bay since 2002
600 detainees have been released
242 detainees at Gitmo when Obama took office
171 detainees still held at Guantánamo Bay
89 detainees still held after being cleared for release
92 percent of prisoners were never al Qaeda fighters according to the U.S. government
86 percent of detainees were turned over after payment of a bounty
13 years old, the age of the youngest detainee
89 years old, the age of the oldest detainee
8 detainee deaths since 2002
6 detainee deaths by suicide
3 alleged detainee homicides from “dry boarding”
$139 million per year to keep the Guantánamo Bay prison open
$800,000 per year to house each detainee
6 detainees convicted by military commissions
6 detainees currently charged by military commission prosecutor
0 detainees released in the past year
ThinkProgress intern Fatima Najiy contributed to this post.
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