The US military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba (Gitmo) has been embroiled in controversy ever since it was built in 2002 during United States’ much-debated ‘War on Terror’ after the attacks of 9/11. Now, after almost two decades of operation, the prison has once again come into the limelight, for all the wrong reasons. The US spends more than $540 million per year to detain fewer than 40 prisoners at Guantanamo. However, neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate is concerned about the high maintenance costs of the prison. Here, we analyse the problems concerning the continuation of operations at Gitmo, specifically with regard to the cost-effectiveness of running it over the past two decades.
A costly affair for US taxpayers
Evidently, the concerns over cost-effectiveness have been echoed by various human rights groups as well as governmental agencies since Barack Obama’s tenure. They cite flawed counterterrorism policies and human rights violations as their main justifications for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, but also emphasises the prison’s astronomical operating costs, stating that it drains military resources. Former President Barack Obama himself stated in an interview that the prison ‘drains military resources’ with almost $450 million dollars spent in the 2015-16 financial year alone.
If we dig deeper into the intricacies of the expenditure required to maintain Gitmo, we come across a 2013 report which puts the total cost of building and operating the prison since 2002 at $5.2 billion. This figure had probably risen to more than $7 billion by 2019. Adding the manpower costs of $108,000 a year for each of the 1,800 troops brings the total figure to more than $540 million. Why is the cost of operating Guantanamo so high? A gamut of reasons: Gitmo is a military prison, which means that unlike traditional prisons, which employs civilians who pay for their own food, transit, and healthcare, the Department of Defense has to provide all these amenities for the military personnel at Guantanamo. The size of the guard staff is huge, due to the prison being isolated from the mainland, which adds to the cost of accommodation and transportation. There are troops from multiple branches comprising a Coast Guard unit, Navy doctors, Air Force engineers, lawyers, nurses, librarians, and military journalists, who all have layers of superiors who oversee their work. In addition to the troops, the prison employs contract linguists, intelligence analysts, consultants, laborers, IT professionals, and other government workers. In 2014, this civilian work force numbered 300, seven times more than the present inmates. The base, prison, and court facilities within Gitmo all function in a state of isolation, cut off from the Cuban economy, which means that practically all the base supplies arrive on contract barges and cargo planes.
The hot and humid climate also exacerbates the wear and tear on the facilities, which adds to expenditures, as contractors have to factor in the cost of bringing equipment and laborers. Based on Congressional documents, that amounted to more than $123 million in 2018. By comparison, it costs $78,000 per year for each inmate at a U.S. supermax prison. Gitmo is hence considered the most expensive prison in the world, making it even more problematic to warrant its continued existence.
A conundrum of past
Even inside Guantánamo, there are criticisms of the expense. National Public Radio in 2019 learned that a former top lawyer there has filed a federal whistleblower complaint alleging ‘gross financial waste’ and ‘gross mismanagement.’ Many attorneys and other officials who have worked there openly condemn the spending. The White House has been similarly silent on Guantanamo’s cost. The Pentagon in 2013 estimated that ‘it spends about $150 million each year to operate the prison and military court system at the U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, which was set up 11 years ago to house foreign terrorism suspects.’ There were 116 inmates then—now the population has dwindled to 40. The Department of Defense stated that taxpayers spent $380 million on Guantánamo’s detention, parole board, and war court operations, including construction in the 2018 fiscal year. That is equal to more than $9 million per prisoner.
Such expenditure can be fairly diverted into other welfare and social upliftment schemes. America is currently not able to provide required pensions to retired military personnels and diversion funds from the closure of Gitmo can be used to fill this drought. Also, considering the US currently faces one of the world’s biggest housing and student debt crises, these diverted reserves can pave way to set up a federal fund to do away with such financial emergencies. US President Joe Biden has committed to shutting the prison down by the time he leaves office. However, there are no cognizable steps taken towards remedying that at the moment. In fact, the 2023 budget overview presented includes no mention of the President’s intent to do anything about the prison, not even cost reduction.
All of this is in addition to the fact that Gitmo has already long been mired in accusations related to violations of basic human and prisoner rights. These alleged violations of international law at Guantánamo include illegal and indefinite detention, torture, inhumane conditions, unfair trials by military commissions, and many more. Nonetheless, they have not been remedied. The interrogation techniques and the information gained through them have also been considered unreliable or ‘not of any significant value’ by the US Senate on various occasions.
The need to shut down Gitmo
Even if there are plenty of reasons for closing down the site, it will still not be an easy and direct affair. However, it is a matter of intent that must be shown by the government, for a promise that has been stalled for over a decade. Considering some prisoners in Gitmo are not on trial, the money to sustain them may lead to a wasting of resources. Therefore, the US government and policy stakeholders should rectify this in a few ways. This should include conducting substantial review of the monetary implications of the site and setting up a blueprint for its closure. Demonstrating intent towards this process would be vital for not only human and prisoner rights activists but would also allow the stakeholders to analyse cost-efficient manoeuvres post-completion of the closure. They could also transport and shift the current inmates to a state penitentiary prison near the US mainland. This would ensure strict prison time for the convicts and would also allow them to have closer access to legal aid. Furthermore, they could decide a procedure to transfer the saved monetary resources towards a dedicated welfare scheme. These funds could either be transferred to settle current financial crises or could be used to set up a federally constituted fund, helping relocate Gitmo prisoners, as well as to better assist them with procuring legal aid in the country. In any case, it is high time that the United States government take action and show political motivation to fulfill these long-awaited obligations.