Detainees mentioned in Locked Up Alone (Human Rights Watch, June, 2008)

The following passages are lifted from the June 2008 report by Human Rights Watch entitled Locked Up Alone: Detention Conditions and Mental Health at Guantanamo.

Detainees report [to their lawyers Zachary Katznelson and Stephen Oleskey] that they spend at least 22 hours a day in their cell [at Camp 3], that they are not housed adjacent to one another so cannot speak to each other. A giant “noise machine”—presumably a generator—reportedly runs all day long, making it impossible for them to communicate with each other even by yelling. Between that and the sound of soldiers walking by on metal planks, they say they can hear little else. Detainees are allowed a Koran in their cell but virtually nothing else. They are reportedly taken out alone for their recreation time so that their isolation from each other is complete (pp. 8f).

Detainees in Camp 5 also report [to their lawyers, Matthew O’Hara, Suhana Han, Michael Cooper, Zachary Katznelson] that they are often only offered recreation opportunities at night (p. 10).

Detainees have told their lawyers [Sarah Havens, Sabin Willet] that the walls around the recreation areas [of Camp 6] are approximately two stories high, meaning that they rarely receive direct sunlight, even if they are taken out for recreation during the day (p. 12).

Several detainees [at Camp 6] have reported [to their lawyers George Clark and Zachary Katznelson] that when they are offered recreation during the night, which happens frequently, they are often discouraged from taking it (p. 12).

Detainees [in Camp 6] have also said [to their lawyers George Clark, Jason Pinney, and Sabin Willet] that, depending on the guard who is on duty, they may be punished for touching each other through the chain-link fences that enclose their recreation pens. They can only communicate with each other at recreation time or by yelling at each other through the gaps in their cell doors [according to their lawyers, George Clark, Seema Saifee, Buz Eisenberg, and Jerry Cohen]. (p. 13).

One detainee—a self-styled poet—told his lawyer it was nearly impossible to write poetry anymore because the prison guards would only allow him to keep a pen or pencil in his cell for short periods of time (p. 17)

Several detainees have told their lawyers [Matthew O’Hara, Stephen Oleskey, and an unnamed staff judge advocate for JTF-GTMO] that they do not know why they were moved to Camp 5 or Camp 6 and believe they have little hope of moving elsewhere (17f).