Guantanamo psychiatric ward

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The Guantanamo detention camp complex includes a psychiatric facility. Guantanamo captive psych ward.jpg
The Guantanamo detention camp complex includes a psychiatric facility.

In addition to the regular camps for detainees held in extrajudicial detention there is a Guantanamo psychiatric ward at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp complex in Cuba. [1] The Department of Defense announced the opening of the psychiatric facility in March 2003. Camp Commandant Geoffrey Miller denied that the opening of the psychiatric facility was solely in response to detainees' suicide attempts. Larry C. James was the chief psychologist in 2003.

In April 2008 Adam M. Robinson, the United States Navy's Surgeon General, wrote that the "...core psychological health team comprised of one psychologist, one psychiatrist, five behavioral nurses and 14 psychiatric technicians." [2]

On June 7, 2010, the Washington Post reported, after obtaining the first official figures for capital costs of the Guantanamo camps to be made public, that the current building cost $2.9 million USD. [3]

Detainees known to have been held in the psychiatric facility

Detainees known to have held in the psychiatric facility
ISN namenotes
78 Mohammad Ahmed Abdullah Saleh Al Hanashi
  • Committed suicide in 2009. [4]
156 Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif
290 Ahmed Belbacha
  • Cleared for repatriation. [6]
669 Ahmed Zaid Salim Zuhair
  • Sent to the psychiatric facility after a meeting with the camp's commandant.[ citation needed ]
743 Muhammad Saad Iqbal
  • Pakistani torture victim. [7] [8]
10028 Inayatullah
  • After his death, of apparent suicide, on May 18, 2011, Inayatullah's lawyer reported that he had spent long periods in the Psychiatric unit. [9]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Musab Omar Ali Al Mudwani</span>

Musab Omar Ali Al Mudwani is a citizen of Yemen who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.

Taj Mohammed is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 902. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate Mohammed was born in 1981. He was repatriated in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammad Ahmed Abdullah Saleh Al Hanashi</span> Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee (1978–2009)

Mohammad Ahmed Abdullah Saleh Al Hanashi was a citizen of Yemen, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. Al Hanashi's Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 78. The Department of Defense reports that Al Hanashi was born in February 1978, in Abyan, Yemen.

The United States Department of Defense (DOD) had stopped reporting Guantanamo suicide attempts in 2002. In mid-2002 the DoD changed the way they classified suicide attempts, and enumerated them under other acts of "self-injurious behavior".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ayoub Murshid Ali Saleh</span>

Ayoub Murshid Ali Saleh is a citizen of Yemen who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 836. The Department of Defense reports that he was born on April 29, 1978, in Usabee, Yemen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shawki Awad Balzuhair</span>

Shawki Awad Balzuhair is a citizen of Yemen, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. His detainee ID number is 838. The Department of Defense reports that Balzuhair was born on July 24, 1981, in Hadhramaut, Yemen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guantanamo Bay detainee uniforms</span>

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Inayatullah, born Hajji Nassim (1974–2011) was a citizen of Afghanistan who was arrested in 2007 and transferred that year to be held as an enemy combatant in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 10028. Nassim was held in Guantanamo for 3 years, 8 months, and 22 days until his death by apparent suicide. The US claims he admitted being an al Qaeda leader, but Nassim denied this in numerous interrogation sessions. The US military claims he was headquartered in Zahedan, Iran. Nassim was the 19th captive to have been transferred to Guantanamo since September 6, 2006.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muhammed Murdi Issa Al Zahrani</span>

Muhammed Murdi Issa Al Zahrani is a citizen of Saudi Arabia who was held in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba from August 5, 2002, until November 22, 2014. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 713. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate he was born in 1969, in Taif, Saudi Arabia.

Official sources show he died whilst at the facility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carol Rosenberg</span>

Carol Rosenberg is a senior journalist at The New York Times. Long a military-affairs reporter at the Miami Herald, from January 2002 into 2019 she reported on the operation of the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camps, at its naval base in Cuba. Her coverage of detention of captives at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp has been praised by her colleagues and legal scholars, and in 2010 she spoke about it by invitation at the National Press Club. Rosenberg had previously covered events in the Middle East. In 2011, she received the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for her nearly decade of work on the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guantanamo detainees' medical care</span>

Separate facilities exist to provide for Guantanamo detainees' medical care.

References

  1. Ian James (2003-03-07). "Mentally ill terrorism suspects to have ward". Wilmington Morning Star. p. 6A. Archived from the original on 2019-12-16. Retrieved 2009-07-16.
  2. Adam M. Robinson, Jr. (2008-04-03). "Comprehensive Medical Care for Detained Enemy Combatants in Guantanamo". Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 2012-12-12. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
  3. Scott Higham; Peter Finn (2010-06-07). "At least $500 million has been spent on Guantánamo Bay renovations". Seattle Times . Retrieved 2010-06-07. The Pentagon spent $18.2 million on a prison hospital and $2.9 million on a psychiatric ward next door. The ward has 12 beds housed inside an elongated metal trailer-like building with reflective-glass windows and a small sign that reads "Behavioral Health Unit." The military would not permit Post reporters to look inside the facility, citing patient confidentiality.
  4. David McFadden, Danica Coto (2009-06-02). "Military: Gitmo detainee dies of apparent suicide". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2009-06-02.
  5. "Military Identifies Guantánamo Detainee Who Died". New York Times. Washington, DC. September 11, 2012.
  6. Jennifer Daskal, Stacy Sullivan (2008-06-10). "The insanity inside Guantánamo: A new report reveals that a number of prisoners -- even some long ago cleared to leave -- are spiraling into hallucinations, despair and suicide". Salon magazine. Archived from the original on 2008-06-13. Retrieved 2009-07-19.
  7. Jane Perlez, Raymond Bonner, Salman Masood, Jane (2009-01-06). "An Ex-Detainee of the U.S. Describes a 6-Year Ordeal". The New York Times .{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. "Rendered to Egypt for torture, Mohammed Saad Iqbal Madni is released from Guantánamo - Andy Worthington".
  9. Carol Rosenberg (2011-06-28). "Latest Guantánamo prison camp suicide was 'indefinite detainee': The last two men to leave Guantánamo, both dead, were among the secret population of captives called "indefinite detainees."". Miami Herald . Retrieved 2012-05-05. 'We were hopeful that we would be able to complete a psychiatric profile of him and present that information to the government in the hopes they would release him,' said Rashkind... Rashkind said his client had a history of psychological problems and spent long stretches in Guantánamo's psychiatric ward. mirror