US 'considers' Guantanamo Transfers to Maniland Prisons.

by Barbara McPherson | August 3, 2009 at 02:24 pm

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Prisons at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and Standish Michigan are on the list as US admin considers moving Guantanamo inmates to mainland prisons.

The task force is examining whether two possible sites on the US mainland for a new facility with its own courtrooms for criminal and military trials, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

A military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and a maximum security prison in Standish, Michigan, are under consideration for a new detention centre, the newspaper said.

“This is one of the ideas that's been floated and come under discussion," one Obama administration official told the Post on condition of anonymity.

One of now President Obama's planks in his campaign platform was the pledge to close the offshore prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Many in the international community have criticised the holding of many men for years without charging them of a crime. Some of those being held prison at Guantanamo Prison have been cleared of any crime against the US but cannot be returned to their country of origin. This has set off heated debate within the US government as many elected officials and many in the general population are reluctant to accept the prisoners into the US mainland.

Currently of all the detainees held in Guantanamo Prison, some for more than seven years, 11 have been charged with crimes. None have yet to see a courtroom.

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