Guantánamo Detainees Moved Amid Structural Problems at Showcase Prison

Undisclosed infrastructure problems forced the military to evacuate the prison housing the men accused of plotting the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and other detainees from the war against terrorism, according to Defense Department employees.

The military had no comment on the sudden closure over the weekend of its former showcase prison. But by Tuesday, all 30 detainees at Guantánamo Bay were believed to be confined to a medium-security prison building, called Camp 6, the Defense Department employees said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details of the security operation.

Camp 6 was built in 2006 for $39 million to house up to 200 detainees, and until this week held 16 general population prisoners in communal-style detention. All 16 have been approved for transfer to the custody of other countries, including 11 Yemeni men whose transfer to Oman is on hold.

Camp 6 is designed with separate cellblocks, each containing about two dozen cells, a large common room and an adjacent outdoor area monitored by banks of cameras. When it is operated as a medium-security facility, guards remotely open all the cell doors for much of the day, permitting the prisoners to eat, pray, watch TV and engage in other communal activities until they are ordered back to their cells.

As the detainee population has shrunk, fewer men were held in each cellblock, depending on their disciplinary status. Individual cells were replaced with a pantry, a library and other rooms that could be inspected by guards during hours of lockdown.

But until this week, 14 high-security prisoners were held next door in Camp 5, a smaller, maximum-security facility with about 75 cells. They included Khalid Shaikh Mohammed,