Guantanamo Camp 7 Closure May Suggest US Unwilling To Plow Funds Into Facility - Lawyer

The closure of Guantanamo Bay's secretive Camp Seven detention complex may not be a sign that US President Joe Biden's administration is ready to close down the notorious military prison, but could indicate that the government is unwilling to plow millions of taxpayer dollars into maintaining the military prison, Michel Paradis, a senior attorney at the US Department of Defense who has represented several detainees at the facility, told Sputnik

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th April, 2021) The closure of Guantanamo Bay's secretive Camp Seven detention complex may not be a sign that US President Joe Biden's administration is ready to close down the notorious military prison, but could indicate that the government is unwilling to plow millions of taxpayer Dollars into maintaining the military prison, Michel Paradis, a senior attorney at the US Department of Defense who has represented several detainees at the facility, told Sputnik.

The US Southern Command, which oversees the detention facility located at the southeastern end of Cuba, announced this past weekend that detainees at Camp Seven had been transferred to other accommodation blocks.

Paradis, who said that details of the living conditions at Camp Seven were heavily classified, remarked that the closure of the camp suggests that the Biden administration is not seeking to use large sums of taxpayer money to repair the facility.

"I do think you can infer that the lack of interest in pouring more money into constantly standing up and renovating all of these facilities in Guantanamo and looking for ways to consolidate is at least some recognition that the fiscal costs, which currently run about $13 million a year per detainee, are just not worth it.

Whether or not they're sustainable, it's just not worth it," he said.

The lawyer noted that Guantanamo Bay's location in the so-called hurricane belt made the facility difficult to maintain given the extensive "wear and tear."

"All the facilities in Guantanamo - it's difficult to maintain them, and as I understand it, it was one of the major impetus for moving the detainee population from Camp Seven to what's called Camp Five," Paradis remarked.

Camp Seven housed some of Guantanamo Bay's most high-profile detainees, including those suspected of having links with the September 9, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.

Back in December, the New York Times said that the facility was in a dilapidated state, as sewage water reportedly flowed through the accommodation complex.

In total, 40 detainees are still being held at Guantanamo Bay, which opened in 2002. Speaking in February, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said that the Biden administration has launched a formal review into the controversial military detention facility.