|
|
|
Guantanamo: If You're Good We'll Let You Grow Tomatoes
Posted by Pile
(10328 views)      [E-Mail link]
|
[Beating Dead Horses]
[Lonely People] |
 A select group of detainees at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been allowed to garden for the first time, a military spokesman said.
Prisoners in Camp 4, which holds the "most compliant" detainees, started growing tomatoes several weeks ago in concrete soil-filled planters, Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand said.
The military allowed the plants and provided plastic gardening tools, watering cans and seeds at the request of lawyers for detainees |
|
Gardening is intended to "provide intellectual stimulation" to prisoners, Durand said, comparing it to the military's detainee library and literacy programs in Arabic and Pashto, a language spoken mainly in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Camp 4 holds about 35 detainees, who are allowed to spend time together, spend 12 to 14 hours a day outside, eat communally and live in barracks-style housing.
Only those who have "demonstrated long-term compliance with camp rules," are permitted to live in Camp 4, Durand said.
In all, Guantanamo holds about 385 prisoners on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban. Most are held in one-person cells, eat alone and have only limited outdoor recreation.
Lawyers said they appreciated the decision to allow Camp 4 detainees to garden.
"This is welcome news and one small but important step toward sanity," said Sabin Willett, an attorney who represents ethnic Uighurs from western China held at Guantanamo. |
|
|
|
|
Bumper Sticker Store