Gitmo by the numbers... UPDATED.

Five years ago Obama ordered the military to begin a review process of all of the men at Guantanamo who had not been cleared for release by his initial task force. He ordered that the process begin immediately and quickly. It took almost 3 years for the first of those men to be reviewed and yesterday the last man received his initial review. Ironically the name of the process is the "periodic review board" (PRB). The process was so periodic as to almost be non existent for most of the men until this year- when someone finally lit a fire and got the process moving.

These are the numbers- reflecting the fact that as of yesterday, all PRB-eligible detainees still in the prison have received their first PRB hearing.

I just want to add this short article that describes the man who was the last to have a PRB. This young man is the youngest man at the camp and although we do not know for certain his age at capture was somewhere around 15. 
Shame on my country for holding him all of these years and concocting the wild story about him to justify his continued detention.

The prison population remains at 61: 20 are cleared, 31 are awaiting clearance, and 10 are in the military commission system (of those, 7 are in “active” “trial” proceedings while 3 have been “convicted”).

Of the 20 cleared, 12 (60.0%) are Yemenis and 8 are non-Yemenis. 

Of the 31 awaiting clearance, 13 (41.9%) are Yemenis and 18 are non-Yemenis.

PRB Data

The PRB has approved for transfer 33 of the 52 detainees for whom it has issued decisions (63.5%).

A total of 64 detainees received PRB hearings.  Their outcomes and current status are as follows:

·         33 detainees were cleared.  20 of these men have been released; 13 remain.  (See “Cleared Detainee Data” below for details.)

o   29 detainees were cleared after a first hearing.

§  17 of these men have been released; 12 remain.

o     4 detainees were denied after a first hearing, granted a second hearing via file review, and cleared after the second hearing.

§  3 of these men have been released; 1 remains.

·         19 detainees were denied clearance.

o     1 detainee was denied after a first hearing, was granted a second hearing via file review, and is awaiting the second hearing, which is scheduled for October 18 (ISN 28).

o     1 detainee was denied after a first hearing, has received two file reviews, and is scheduled to receive a third file review on October 18 (ISN 242).

o     2 detainees were denied after a first hearing and have received their initial file reviews (ISNs 508, 522).

o     4 detainees were denied after a first hearing and are awaiting their initial file reviews, which have been scheduled (ISNs 29, 569, 1094, 1457).

o   11 detainees were denied after a first hearing and are awaiting their initial file reviews (ISNs 27, 63, 682, 685, 708, 1017, 1453, 1460, 1463, 3148, 10025).

·         12 detainees are awaiting the results of their first hearings (ISNs 560, 696, 841, 1456, 1461, 10016, 10017, 10019, 10021, 10022, 10023, 10029).

For more details, see the PRB web pages tracking detainees’ initial hearings, file reviews, and second hearings.

Cleared Detainee Data

7 of the 20 remaining cleared detainees currently at the base were cleared by the Obama Task Force.  The other 13 were cleared by the PRB, which means 20 PRB-cleared detainees have been released.

Specifically, of the 20 cleared:

·          5 are Yemenis approved for “conditional detention” by the Obama Task Force (ISNs 240, 440, 498, 550, 893)

·          2 are non-Yemenis approved for transfer by the Obama Task Force (ISNs 38 (Tunisia), 309 (unknown/UAE))

·          7 are Yemenis approved for transfer by the PRB (ISNs 44, 128, 131, 434, 838, 839, 840)

·          6 are non-Yemenis approved for transfer by the PRB (ISNs 244 (Morocco), 694 (Algeria), 702 (Russia), 753 (Afghanistan), 760 (Mauritania), 975 (Afghanistan))

H/O to fellow Gitmo attorney Brian Foster for keeping track of all of this.