Report shows U.S. jails could house Guantanamo detainees

WASHINGTON The controversial detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could be closed and the 166 detainees being held there could be absorbed safely by U.S. prisons, a government report says.

Many of the detainees are accused of plotting terrorist acts against the United States.

"This report demonstrates that if the political will exists, we could finally close Guantanamo without imperiling our national security," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the Senate Intelligence Committee chairwoman who released the Government Accountability Office study Wednesday.

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The GAO study shows that U.S. prisons already hold 373 prisoners convicted of terrorism in 98 facilities across the country.

"As far as I know, there hasn't been a single security problem reported in any of these cases," Feinstein said. "This fact outweighs not only the high cost of maintaining Guantanamo — which costs more than $114 million a year — but also provides the same degree of security without the criticism of operating a military prison in an isolated location."

The study said there are six Defense Department prisons and 98 Justice Department prisons that could take the detainees, but it does say that existing facilities likely would need to be modified and current inmates may need to be relocated to make room for the new arrivals.

President Barack Obama ordered the closing of the Guantanamo's detention facility when he took office in 2009, but that was blocked by a Republican-led bill that cut off funding to move the detainees to the U.S. The lawmakers cited security concerns, saying the presence of the detainees would encourage terror attacks in the states or cities where they were being held.

Feinstein commissioned the study in 2008 to find out where the detainees could be held, if the White House was able to move ahead with Guantanamo's closure.

[stormerF69]

Why would the Tax Payers want to wastefully spend the money to make this insane move?

[buckn]

I'm not saying that these people should be set free, but why haven't they been brought to trial and dealt with legally? Or, it is legal to hold people indefinitely without being charged?

[ammo17]

when i joined the us navy in 1963 we had to go to gitmo for our shake down cruise and had to go there for liberty.as bad as this place was it is still too good for the people who are killing our military.this will cost the taxpayers more money to house them,but it will increase the number of government jobs created at our expense.i can see that this president has no clue about economics and safety.

[finkfurst4]

Shouldn't you first prove that the people in Gitmo DID kill anybody?..... or is Dubya saying that they're guilty all the evidence you need?

[robert1129]

This Gitmo facility is just too expensive to maintain for only 166 detainees (most of which are innocent). Whenever we lecture other countries about civil rights, they point out Gitmo; we can house them within the US and save millions. There is just simply no reason we cannot bring them here except for GOP being slaves to folks like Fox, Hannity, and Rush. Obama needs to do it via executive order and just ignore the fall out.

[finkfurst4]

Dopeyguns says: "Sure bring them here and they will not last a day. The other inmates will take care of Justice, just like they do Child Molesters."

Put justice in the hands of murderers and rapists - that's the American way!

[[e-mail]]

Guantanamo is a train that has already left the station. Most of the prisoners are sworn enemies of the US that would seek to directly attack the US if they were freed. However, they cant be tried in US civil court because we have violated their civil rights horribly and repeatedly and no US civil court would be able to allow enough evidence to find guilt. So they continue to sit in legal limbo out of practical necessity and nothing else.

[komodo55]

Send them to Detroit...then they'll know the meaning of true suffering.

[nfission235]

Perhaps one step in the right direction; close gitmo and get these people into a more humane environment because no one even knows what their crimes are. Read the story of a young man who went there who never did anything wrong, he went to seek medical help for a disability and ended up in gitmo, even died there. How many people there who don't belong? We'll sure never know. There is really something shady about the whole Iraq affair and how these people came to be at gitmo in the first place. I hope that hell hole is closed then destroyed. None of us have any idea what really went on with 9/11 and we probably never will, just like we'll never know who killed JFK.

[rnrstar]

Wasting money on Gitmo is fine with the GOP but then how can we ever take seriously their claim that they want to cut spending when they won't even entertain something as reasonable as closing Gitmo?

[PourpaixPourpaix]

Can't bring them home because the continuing torture could be contested on US soil, not to mention other laws about illegal incarceration. How would all those fine Army generals get aroused and get their jollies, then?