Like most of us here I've have watched with more than a little fascination as the Republicans (and more than a few Democrats) say that our Federal prison system can't handle the folks currently being held in Gitmo. Because I am a proud member of the "reality based community" I figured it might be a good idea to use "The Google" and learn a little before I started saying what I thought.
As is so often the case, the information is right out there for anybody to read and analyze. Heck, you'd think the people we elect and the talking heads that clutter our TV screens might have taken like 30 seconds to educate themselves.
A little of what I learned is below the fold.
The title of this post, "Supermax: A Clean Version Of Hell" is what a former warden, Robert Hood, called the facility in Florence, CO (about 100 miles from Denver) during a 60 Minutes report from 2007. It is a video I strongly suggest everybody watches.
Hood explains there are 114 federal prisons, the Supermax is Harvard of the system. But as Scott Pelley jokes, it is a lot harder to get into. It would appear you actually have to try really hard to get in. Either you are a convicted, violent felon that continues to kill once in prison, you are the leader of a prison gang, or you are a convicted terrorist.
Yes a convicted terrorist. There are at least 40 currently housed in the Supermax. So many in fact, they have a special wing just for them, called the "H-Unit."
Now before I go on, I should say most I know about prisons is from watching HBO's Oz. Well that ain't how they roll at the Supermax.
Most prisoners spend up to 23 hours a day in their cells, every minute, every meal. The window in their cell is blocked so they can't see the mountains. Inmates can watch a 12" black and white television or read books to pass the time. And if they behave, they may get limited exercise in a one-man recreation pen.
Within the prison they literally have no contact with anybody that isn't a guard. All communication with the outside world is monitored 24/7, so the rant by the Republicans that they could plan another terrorist attack is just wrong.
Let me say this again, the reason leaders of prison gangs are sent here is cause they CAN'T RUN SHIT from the Supermax.
You might also hear the Republicans say, "well they are Islamic Terrorists, our prisons can't handle them!" Well outside the fact they actually already have a wing of the prison just for terrorist, the menu is actually pork free and they freaking sell prayer mats at the darn place ($18 bucks a pop if you are curious).
Then there is the rant that they might escape. First off nobody has ever escaped. Second, and I must have scanned around 25 articles, it appears nobody has even really tried.
You also hear the Republicans say that wherever the terrorists are housed will be the target of an attack. There is a part of me that would just like to state the obvious, has anybody ever attacked Gitmo? But lets humor the Republicans on this point.
60 Minutes, which seems to be able to get access to just about anywhere they want, couldn't get within a half mile of the place. Heck, they could only get one current employee to even go on camera, and the women openly says that the only reason she agreed to be interviewed was as the head of the guard's union she wanted to make public the fact work conditions needed to be improved.
And that brings us to the last Republican talking point, that the folks in Gitmo are hard to deal with. Well it would seem a few folks in Supermax are hard to deal with as well. When a number of the convicted terrorist went on hunger strikes, the warden told the guards and medical staff to start force feeding them.
That is about all I got, expect for this disclaimer. First, I strongly suggest people interested in this topic visit this site. The sheer scale of information this guy (who is a lawyer) has gathered is almost hard to comprehend. Second, not saying I agree with the treatment of the people housed in the Supermax. Some of the documents I found in my research indicated conditions are pretty grim.