Brownback Challenges Gitmo/Leavenworth Claim by Center for American Progress

Statement

Brownback Challenges Gitmo/Leavenworth Claim by Center for American Progress

Fort Leavenworth barracks cannot accommodate detainees

U.S. Senator Sam Brownback today commented on a report from the Center for American Progress on closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility:

"Today's CAP report is misleading and inaccurate. Contrary to this report, Fort Leavenworth has neither the space nor the security arrangements to handle detainees from Guantanamo Bay."

The report, How to Close Guantanamo Bay, recommended that detainees slated for trial in military courts be transferred to the Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks. According to the report, the Barracks "could easily accommodate the relatively small number of detainees that would likely be transferred from Guantánamo to face courts-martial at its 515-cell compound." The maximum security wing at the Disciplinary Barracks has a capacity of less than 30 prisoners, and many of those spaces are currently occupied by military prisoners who cannot be transferred elsewhere. The rest of the Disciplinary Barracks provides medium-level security. Eighty percent of Fort Leavenworth's prisoners have some freedom of movement throughout the facility.

Also, the Disciplinary Barracks does not provide a completely self contained detention operation. Unlike Guantanamo Bay or the Colorado "supermax," the Barracks lack 24-hour medical care facilities or an emergency room. Prisoners needing such medical services must be treated outside the walls of the installation.

"I am disappointed that policy makers and analysts continue to talk about Fort Leavenworth as a place to house detainees without visiting the facility. In person visits will confirm why the Disciplinary Barracks do not meet the security requirements necessary to perform this mission, even if Guantanamo Bay were to close."

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