U.S. Detention Facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But efforts to close the facility and

move terror suspects to prisons on US soil have since been hampered by Republican opposition.

When Obama announced that he was still determined to shut down the facility in February 2016,

concern over where Guantanamo prisoners would be relocated to, arose once again. So we wanted

to know what happens to prisoners after they leave Guantanamo?

Well, since Guantanamo Bay Prison opened on January 11, 2002, it has detained roughly

780 prisoners, predominantly from the Middle East. The prison is home to enemy combatants

captured by the US during the War on Terror, including the suspected architect of the September

11th attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. As of January 2016, 91 detainees remain. About

half are still facing criminal charges, 35 have been approved for transfer out of the

prison, and ten are considered “unreleasable”. According to the White House, these ten either

cannot yet be transferred to other countries or they pose a continuing significant threat.

If Guantanamo were to close, some could potentially be transferred to U.S. soil as per President

Obama’s most recent plan. This includes 13 potential supermax prisons and military

sites in states like South Carolina, Kansas and Colorado. Some republican leaders have

suggested that Obama’s plan could threaten the security of the United States.

So where have prisoner's been relocated to in the past? Well, many are returned to their home countries.

There are reportedly 57 countries to which detainees have been sent, with the majority going to Afghanistan.

Seven detainees were repatriated to Russia, where Human Rights

Watch alleged they were tortured, beaten, harassed, and given unfair trials. Others

have gone to countries like Canada, Sweden, El Salvador, and two detainees were sent to

the United States to stand trial in US court. Some detainees are transferred to terrorist

rehabilitation centers, in countries like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, featuring psychological

evaluation, medical care, exercise, and religious counseling. These rehab centers are designed

to convert former jihadi terrorists, by using Islamic teachings to abolish their extremist

ideologies. Saudi officials claim that their center has an 80% success rate for reforming

prisoners. However, of those prisoners who were deported and not jailed, upon release,

it’s estimated that about one in six has returned to terrorism.

President Obama said in his 2015 State of the Union address that it costs $3 million

dollars a year, per prisoner to be held at Guantanamo. Aside from the cost, the detention

center has also been the focus of worldwide attention following years of allegedly inhumane

living conditions, government sanctioned torture, and a lack of legal standing for the prisoners.

With less than 100 detainees remaining, Obama may actually accomplish his goal of shutting

down the facility by the end of his term. But when the options on the outside are rehabilitation,

imprisonment, death, or recidivism, it is hard to say whether that’s truly a better

option than keeping it open.

The past decade and a half of war has contributed to some of the worst human rights violations

in recent years, with the United States committing its share of atrocities as well. Government

sanctioned torture has been a hot button issue, and the CIA’s release of the Torture Report

has outlined the extent of the US’s involvement. Find out why that really matters by watching

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