The proposed facility is an apparent replacement for Camp 7,which was constructed to hold 14 “high-value” detainees – includingthe self-described 9/11 attack architect Khalid Shaikh Mohammed –who had been in CIA custody, but were handed over to the militaryin 2006.
Follow RT's in-depth day-by-day timeline on Gitmohunger strike.
The proposed prison comes on top of funds previously requestedto upgrade the camp’s facilities, including a new dining hall,barracks for prison guards, a hospital, a “legal meetingcomplex” and a “communications network facility” tostore data, the New York Times reports.
Many of the facilities were in a state of disrepair as they werenever intended to be used on a permanent basis, a Southcomspokesman told the Huffington Post.
"Most of the buildings and infrastructure were built for ashort-term mission," said Lt. Cmdr. Ron Flanders. "We gotdown there in 2002, but never in a million years would we stillhave this in 2013 with no end in sight."
The additional request will balloon the overall cost to $195.7million, significantly higher than the estimated $150-170 millionthat Southcom commander General John Kelly gave while providingcongressional testimony on Wednesday, NYT reports.
The special detention facility was also not included among the listof proposed constructions released by Southcom on Wednesday.
All of the projects have already been approved by Kelly, thoughthey are pending approval by the Pentagon, which is headed the newSecretary of Defense Chuck Hagel.
With an operational budget of $177 million for 2013, Guantanamo isthe United States most expensive prison, with US taxpayers alreadypaying more than $1 million dollars for each of the camp’s 166detainees per annum.
The proposed upgrades come in the midst of a hunger strike amongGuantanamo detainees which has now entered its 45th day.
On Wednesday, Kelly told a congressional committee that twodozen Guantanamo prisoners were on
"hunger strike light" following allegations the Koran hadbeen mishandled, claims which the general dismissed as
“nonsense.” “They had great optimism that Guantanamowould be closed. They were devastated apparently ... when thepresident backed off, at least [that's] their perception, ofclosing the facility," John Kelly told the House Armed ServicesCommittee in Washington.
The officially-acknowledged number of Gitmo detainees on hungerstrike reached 26 people on Friday, with eight receiving enteralfeeds, Guantanamo Bay spokesman Capt. Robert Durand told RT.
Former Guantanamo prison official Ret. Col. Morris Davis told RTthat many of the hunger strikers had become disillusioned withObama’s promise of hope and change.
“But here you have a majority of the men at Guantanamo -- 86of the 106 who have been cleared for transfer -- who have been inconfinement now for more than a decade in some cases. So to them,with the hunger strike, they’re kind of out of sight out of mindand the only way to potentially call attention to it is to dosomething drastic like a hunger strike. So the numbers - DoD hassaid the numbers have gone from seven to 14 to 21, to I believe 25is the last official number. But if you talk to some of theattorneys that have been down there, they say that’s a low-ballfigure, that it’s probably three or four times that.” PresidentBarack Obama’s first act as president was to sign an executiveorder to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay,Cuba.
“I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo,and I will follow through on that,” Obama told CBS’ Steve Kroftin November 2008.
