With President Obama renewing his vow to close detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Medill News Service traveled to the base and photographed the abandoned Camp X-Ray detention center.
The military used Camp X-Ray from 1994 to 1996 to house tens-of-thousands of Haitian and Cuban refugees who were seeking asylum in the U.S.
The camp, reopened in 2002, held the war’s first detainees. They arrived in orange jump suits, darkened goggles and ear covers. At its height, it housed roughly 300 suspected terrorists in rows of chain-linked, open-air cells. It included guard towers and wooden cabins, where the accused were admitted, received medical care and subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques. The detainees were transferred to a different camp at Guantanamo in April 2003.
By mid-2015, Camp X-Ray was overgrown with weeds, isolated and empty.
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- The entrance to Camp X-Ray, located at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was the temporary holding facility for detainees captured in the war on terror. It opened in January 2002 with 20 detainees and was shut down in 2003. (Photo: Matt Yurus / Medill News Service)
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- Detainees were taken to cinderblock showers almost immediately after arriving at Camp X-Ray. It took roughly four hours to process a detainee. (Photo: Matt Yurus / Medill News Service)
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- Each detainee was confined to a cell that was 64 square feet. Early on detainees were given 30 minutes of recreation time per week. (Photo: Noor Wazwaz / Medill News Service)
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- Cellblocks had a gravity pipe for urination. (Photo: Noor Wazwaz / Medill News Service)
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- A wash station for detainees. (Photo: Matt Yurus / Medill News Service)
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- The detainees were under 24-hour surveillance. (Photo: Noor Wazwaz / Medill News Service)
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- The K9 kennel. A public affairs officer said this was the only air-conditioned room in Camp X-Ray. (Photo: Matt Yurus / Medill News Service)
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- Two of these buildings were used for interviews and interrogations. (Photo: Matt Yurus / Medill News Service)
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- Inside a possible interrogation room. (Photo: Matt Yurus / Medill News Service)
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- Camp X-Ray was closed in April 2003 and about 300 detainees were transferred to another site at Guantanamo. (Photo: Noor Wazwaz / Medill News Service)
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