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Seton Hall Law Releases Latest GTMO Report, "Death In Camp Delta"

Seton Hall University School of Law’s Center for Policy & Research has issued a report, Death in Camp Delta, which finds dramatic flaws in the government’s investigation of three simultaneous deaths of detainees in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The June 2006 deaths raised serious questions about the security of the Camp, and this report highlights the derelictions of duty by officials of multiple defense and intelligence agencies who allowed three detainees to die and elected not to conduct a proper investigation into the cause of the deaths.

The three detainees were each reported to have been found hanging in his separate cell shortly after midnight on June 10, 2006. According to the government’s own autopsies, each detainee had been hanging unobserved for a minimum of two hours. The deaths went unnoticed despite the constant supervision of five guards who were responsible for only 28 inmates in a lit cell block monitored by video cameras. According to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), each detainee should have been observed a minimum of once every 10 minutes by the guards. Despite clear violations of the SOP, no guards were ever disciplined.

CAMP IN DISARRAY

Buried in the investigation are details of a camp in total disarray. According to Professor Mark Denbeaux, Director of the Center for Policy & Research, the investigation shows “guards not on duty, detainees hanging dead in their cells for hours and guards leaving their posts to eat the detainees’ leftover food.” During initial investigation interviews immediately following the deaths, those guards on duty were warned that they were suspected of giving false statements and were even read their Miranda rights. These guards were also ordered to not write out sworn statements, even though SOPs demanded they should.

COVER UP

Professor Denbeaux commented, “An investigation was promised. The promised investigation was a cover up. Worse still, given the gross inadequacy of the investigation the more compelling questions are: Who knew of the cover up? Who approved of the cover up, and why? The government’s investigation is slipshod, and its conclusion leaves the most important questions about this tragedy unanswered.”

Taking the military investigation’s findings as truthful and complete, in order to have committed suicide by hanging, the detainees had to:

  1. Braid a noose by tearing up their sheets and/or clothing
  2. Make mannequins of themselves so it would appear to the guards they were asleep in their cells
  3. Hang sheets to block the view into the cells, in violation of SOPs
  4. Stuff rags down their own throats
  5. Tie their own feet together
  6. Tie their own hands together
  7. Hang the noose from the metal mesh of the cell wall and/or ceiling
  8. Climb up on to the sink, put the noose around their necks and release their weight, resulting in death by strangulation
  9. Hang dead for at least two hours completely unnoticed by guards

Seton Hall Law student, co-author of Death in Camp Delta, and former Sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division, Paul W. Taylor added: “We have three dead bodies and no explanation. How is it possible that all three detainees had shoved rags so far down their own throats that medical personnel could not remove them? One of the dead detainees was scheduled for release from Guantanamo Bay in 19 days. Instead he died in custody.  The American public and the families of the dead deserve to know the truth.”

Death in Camp Delta is the Center’s Fifteenth Guantanamo Report; previous reports have been introduced into the Congressional Record by the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee, the House Armed Services Committee, and as part of a Resolution by the European Parliament. The Guantanamo reports have also been cited by media throughout the world. Death in Camp Delta and all previous reports, may be found at http://law.shu.edu and will be included in the Guantanamo Archives, a joint project between Seton Hall Law and New York University to document, preserve, and make accessible the legal records and the human stories of the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp.

Seton Hall University School of Law, New Jersey’s only private law school, and a leading law school in the New York metropolitan area, is dedicated to preparing students for the practice of law through excellence in scholarship and teaching, with a strong focus on clinical education. The Center for Policy and Research enables students to gain practical experience while engaging in research and analysis that promotes respect for the rights of individuals worldwide. The students examine primary sources pertaining to national security law and practices of the U.S. government, as well as the reliability of forensic evidence for criminal investigations and prosecution. Seton Hall Law is located in Newark, NJ and offers both day and evening degree programs. For more information, visit http://law.shu.edu.


Contacts:

Janet LeMonnier
Director of Communications
Office: 973-642-8385
Cell:
Email: [email protected]

Michael Ricciardelli

Office:
Cell: 9084473034
Email: [email protected]

Professor Mark Denbeaux
Professor of Law
Office: 973-642-8822
Cell: 201-214-6785
Email:

December 341, 2009