"Another Prisoners' Dilemma"

By Fiorella Bafundo

According to an article from the New York Times, a Pentagon report of the Guantanamo Bay prison says that the detention center fulfills the requirements of the Geneva Conventions, and gives some suggestions to improve some of the bad conditions of the detainees, such as human isolation. This report was asked by the President Obama in the middle of the discussion of the new administration in the attempt to close it by the end of the year because of the possible abuses and human rights violations that occur over there.
On the one hand, some critics say that this fact could change the orientation of the presidency, as it could for the first time defend it. In this sense, one official of the Pentagon “argued that the report showed that the Bush administration had created a humane detention camp,” and that “if the men were moved, they might “go from a humane environment to a less humane environment.”
On the other hand, some critics like Gitanjali Gutierrez (a lawyer of the prisoners) claims that these “moves” to improve the prison could be used to avoid “major alterations,” and that they are concerned that for example the fact of the recent increase in recreational time and interaction among detainees “were in anticipation of visits now being made by senior members of the new administration.” She said they are very worried and “[they] expect more of the new administration.”