by WashDCDemocrat
It's no surprise that no one wants them. They're some of the worst criminals that the US has had to deal with, they've committed the worst crimes imaginable, and - if you live in Illinois - they're coming to a Supermax prison near you, namely the Thomson Correctional Center. And chances are that you're not happy with it. Again, it's no surprise that they are not wanted. But most people don't know just how "Supermax" these Supermaxes are.
Let's say you were arrested for armed robbery. In prison, let's say that you attacked a prison guard. You are sent to a Supermax prison. Your daily life now consists of 23 hours of cell time a day - single cell, no windows. If you are ever allowed out of your sell, you are restrained and escorted by guards. You would receive only one hour of exercise time a day, in an interior prison yard, under constant watch by heavily armed guards. There are three fences surrounding Supermax facilities: one interior and one exterior topped with barbed or razor wire, and a third in the middle that is electrified, and lethal if touched.
Long story short, nobody leaves.
So, if the terrorists are being kept here, why is there an uproar? Some fear that others will try to break the terrorists out of prison. This claim is completely groundless, due to the security measures in place. Others fear reprisal terrorist attacks in Illinois. None should be expected in the town where the prison is located. Of course, while terrorist attacks have occurred in the past where the demands of terrorists were the release of prisoners, a transfer of prisoners does not solve this problem.
The threat is non-existent. These terrorists need to be moved as soon as possible, before Guantanamo Bay closes next year. It's time to close, as Obama put it, this "sad chapter in American history."
2 comments:
Even though Obama's rhetoric likes to make people believe that closing Guantanamo Bay will put an end to these reprehensible illegal interrogation methods, no such thing will happen; it is just a symbol. There will be no change in interrogation and treatment policy.
That may be true, but the closing of Guantanamo Bay has less to do with torture (though, I admit, that is how it is sold to the American people) than the abandonment of habeas corpus and the failure of the military tribunal system. Many of Guantanamo's prisoners could be innocent or guilty of much lesser crimes, so integration into the American (or transfer nation's) legal and penal systems has become a necessity if we are to establish a precedent of granting legal rights to the vast majority of those whom we detain. Although we can't be sure that every detainee is given their rights, the closing of Gitmo will greatly shrink the amount of detainees who won't.
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