Pentagon sending Congress plan to shut down Guantanamo prison

Protesters call for closure of Guantanamo Bay prison camp

(Image credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

published 23 February 2016

On Tuesday, the Defense Department is expected to send Congress a plan to close the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, a goal of President Obama's since he took office in 2009. The Obama administration has reduced the number of prisoners at the camp to 91, including 10 who've been charged or convicted by a military judicial commission, 46 being held as wartime detainees, and 35 who have been recommended for transfer to another country. The Pentagon study, mandated under a defense funding bill last fall, will include a list of potential federal prisons that could hold the remaining prisoners.

Congress has barred Obama from transferring Guantánamo prisoners to the U.S. mainland, and the current GOP-led Congress is unlikely to repeal that restriction.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.