D028 Close Guantánamo Bay Prison
On January 11, 2002, the United States sent the first of 780 detainees, all Muslim men and boys, to the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba detention facility to avoid legal constraints on treatment of prisoners and being able to hold them without trial. Many prisoners were subjected to torture, and few were charged with a crime; none had a fair trial. Twenty-two of the detainees were children at the time they arrived at Guantánamo. According the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has led the legal fight to represent these men and to close the prison, 86% of the detainees were sold to the United States for bounties at price of $5,000 per person.
In 2004 and 2008, the Supreme Court established U.S. court jurisdiction over the prison and affirmed detainees’ right to habeas corpus review. Military commissions today are ongoing but are proceeding very slowly. Of the remaining 30 detainees, 19 have not been charged with a crime; 16 are fully cleared for transfer but have not been released; 11 have active cases in the military commissions system; only one has actually been convicted of any crime. Over the course of 22 years since the facility opened, nine men have been convicted and an equal number have died while imprisoned. Because of the use of torture in their interrogations, and the increasing age and the physical and mental debilitation of the remaining prisoners, it will not be possible to provide a full and fair judicial resolution for all these cases. Guantánamo is the most expensive prison in the world, costing U.S. taxpayers $540 million per year.
The Executive Council of The Episcopal Church passed a resolution in March, 2007 calling for the U.S. Government “to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay” and “to oppose the use of secret detention centers around the world, and to cease the practice of ‘extraordinary rendition,’ in which terror suspects are sent without judicial review to nations where they may be tortured.” In 2009, President Obama signed an executive order limiting (though not ending completely) the CIA’s authority to use extraordinary rendition and torture as counter-terrorism techniques. He also promised to close the Guantánamo detention center. Since that promise, many cases have been resolved, but the facility remains open for the last 30 prisoners, at a high cost in dollars and even more of a moral cost. No senior U.S. government official has ever been held accountable for the wrongful detention and torture of prisoners at Guantánamo.
Although we can rely on the 2007 statement of the Executive Council to advocate for the closure of this prison, it is time for the General Convention to reaffirm and renew this call seventeen years later, lest we forget.
Meanwhile, our Office of Government Relations has been diligent in advocating for justice in this matter, even as many advocates have moved to other issues, and the memory of Guantánamo is fading for many Americans, even though it remains open at such high cost both in dollars and as a moral wound.
Support Documents:
Action alert, January 2024, with resources and links for further study
Executive Council Resolution EXC032007.31, March 2007.
Note: this resolution and/or its explanation contains external references, such as URLs of websites, that may not be in the required languages of General Convention. Because of copyright restrictions, the General Convention cannot provide translations. However, your web browser may be able to provide a machine translation into another language. If you need assistance with this, please contact gc.support@episcopalchurch.org.
Explanation
On January 11, 2002, the United States sent the first of 780 detainees, all Muslim men and boys, to the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba detention facility to avoid legal constraints on treatment of prisoners and being able to hold them without trial. Many prisoners were subjected to torture, and few were charged with a crime; none had a fair trial. Twenty-two of the detainees were children at the time they arrived at Guantánamo. According the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has led the legal fight to represent these men and to close the prison, 86% of the detainees were sold to the United States for bounties at price of $5,000 per person.
In 2004 and 2008, the Supreme Court established U.S. court jurisdiction over the prison and affirmed detainees’ right to habeas corpus review. Military commissions today are ongoing but are proceeding very slowly. Of the remaining 30 detainees, 19 have not been charged with a crime; 16 are fully cleared for transfer but have not been released; 11 have active cases in the military commissions system; only one has actually been convicted of any crime. Over the course of 22 years since the facility opened, nine men have been convicted and an equal number have died while imprisoned. Because of the use of torture in their interrogations, and the increasing age and the physical and mental debilitation of the remaining prisoners, it will not be possible to provide a full and fair judicial resolution for all these cases. Guantánamo is the most expensive prison in the world, costing U.S. taxpayers $540 million per year.
The Executive Council of The Episcopal Church passed a resolution in March, 2007 calling for the U.S. Government “to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay” and “to oppose the use of secret detention centers around the world, and to cease the practice of ‘extraordinary rendition,’ in which terror suspects are sent without judicial review to nations where they may be tortured.” In 2009, President Obama signed an executive order limiting (though not ending completely) the CIA’s authority to use extraordinary rendition and torture as counter-terrorism techniques. He also promised to close the Guantánamo detention center. Since that promise, many cases have been resolved, but the facility remains open for the last 30 prisoners, at a high cost in dollars and even more of a moral cost. No senior U.S. government official has ever been held accountable for the wrongful detention and torture of prisoners at Guantánamo.
Although we can rely on the 2007 statement of the Executive Council to advocate for the closure of this prison, it is time for the General Convention to reaffirm and renew this call seventeen years later, lest we forget.
Meanwhile, our Office of Government Relations has been diligent in advocating for justice in this matter, even as many advocates have moved to other issues, and the memory of Guantánamo is fading for many Americans, even though it remains open at such high cost both in dollars and as a moral wound.
Support Documents:
Action alert, January 2024, with resources and links for further study
Executive Council Resolution EXC032007.31, March 2007.
Note: this resolution and/or its explanation contains external references, such as URLs of websites, that may not be in the required languages of General Convention. Because of copyright restrictions, the General Convention cannot provide translations. However, your web browser may be able to provide a machine translation into another language. If you need assistance with this, please contact gc.support@episcopalchurch.org.