Now on Internet: Gitmo Prison Manual
Updated: Want to know what the exact rules are for running the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba? If so, you’re in luck—the entire Gitmo prison operating manual was posted last week on the Internet.
Although stamped “unclassified,” the prison manual is also stamped “for official use only,” meaning that it was not intended for public distribution, points out Reuters.
The manual appears to reveal information that has previously been intentionally withheld. For example, it “indicates some prisoners were designated as off-limits to visitors from the International Committee of the Red Cross, something the military has repeatedly denied,” the British news agency writes.
It also addresses the minutia of military prison management. Styrofoam cups, for instance, must be confiscated if prisoners have written on them, apparently because they may then be a vehicle for passing forbidden notes from one prisoner to another. Meanwhile, “(i)f the cup is damaged or destroyed, the detainee will be disciplined for destruction of government property,” the manual states.
According to the Wired blog, “The 238-page document, ‘Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedures,’ is dated March 28, 2003” and was first published by Wikileaks.org on Nov. 7.
The Gitmo prison manual (PDF) was difficult to access on Wikileaks this morning, but an alternative link was provided by the indymedia ireland blog.
A Gitmo spokesman tells Reuters that the rules have changed significantly since 2003, but would not discuss them because ofsecurity concerns.
(Updated at 12:15 p.m. CST.)
