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Harry Potter films for hire, strawberries for tea and shoes laid out by the bed with military precision... The images that show what life is REALLY like in Guantanamo Bay
PUBLISHED:06:19 EST, 11 March 2013| UPDATED:13:20 EST, 11 March 2013
It holds some of the world’s most dangerous prisoners and is a byword for terror.
But astonishing new pictures have given a fresh glimpse of what life is really like inside Guantanamo Bay - the top-security, barb-wired holding pen for extremists captured in the war on terror.
Far from languishing in a dank and desolate dungeon as many in the outside world imagine, inmates are in fact able to rent Harry Potter movies, borrow car magazines and even get strawberries for their tea.
Detainees wake up each morning in a room equipped with a private lavatory, sink and toilet paper before dressing in the camp's standard issue clothing, laid out neatly on their bed.
Lunchtime spread: At mealtimes detainees can choose, depending on their dietary requirements, from a selection of vegetarian or fish dishes - with lemons to drizzle - with vegetables on the side and a juice to wash it all down
Down time: To relax, prisoners can visit the camp's in-house library, which contains a host of books, in Arabic and English, Hollywood blockbuster DVDs and magazines
Inside the library: Far from languishing in a dank and desolate dungeon as many in the outside world imagine, inmates are in fact able to rent Harry Potter movies and borrow car magazines
Wake up: Detainees wake up each morning in a room equipped with a private lavatory, sink and toilet paper before dressing in the camp's standard issue clothing
At mealtimes detainees can choose, depending on their dietary requirements, from a selection of vegetarian or fish dishes - with lemons to drizzle - with vegetables on the side and a juice to wash it all down.
For those who eat meat, halal beef is often on offer at lunch and dinnertime with a similar selection of side dishes.
To relax, prisoners can visit the camp's in-house library, which contains a host of books, in Arabic and English, Hollywood blockbuster DVDs and magazines.
Guantanamo Bay has long been a subject of controversy in the United States and around the world and the Obama administration made it a policy pledge to shut the prison camp on his first full day in office in January 2009.
Since then, however, he has been blocked by Congress from doing so and the 166 inmates there have been left in legal limbo, despite the president ruling out sending any more terror suspects to Guantanamo.
A sign is fixed to a fence topped with barbed wire at Camp Delta
Outside looking in: The exterior of Camp Delta at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay. The facility holds prisoners who have been captured in the war in Afghanistan and elsewhere
Sparse: The interior of an unoccupied communal cellblock at Camp VI
New wardrobe: Standard issue clothing is given to all prisoners when they arrive
Books in Arabic line the shelves at the detainee library located inside Camp Delta
The Joint Task Force Guantamano is responsible for housing and feeding prisoners who have been captured in the war in Afghanistan and elsewhere since the September 11, attacks in 2001.
The base has hit the headlines recently after defense lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees claimed that inmates at the high security facility were starving themselves to death, refusing to sleep in their cells and have been engaged for weeks in widespread protests.
Attorneys for the terror detainees allege that guards at the prison camp on the island of Cuba 'desecrated' a Quran, which sparked February's hunger protest and claim that conditions have deteriorated to the 'darkest days under Bush'
Controversial: The Obama administration made it a policy pledge to shut the prison camp on his first full day in office in January 2009. Since then, he has been blocked by Congress from doing so 
There are 166 inmates at Guantanamo Bay who have been left in legal limbo despite the president ruling out sending any more terror suspects to Guantanamo
Trays of halal meat for detainee meals are stored in a refrigeration unit
Healthy diet: A selection of lunch meals offered to detainees are displayed in a food preparation area
Catching up on the news: An unidentified prisoner reads a newspaper in a communal cellblock at Camp VI
The alleged troubles come as U.S. military officials confirmed on Thursday that a guard at the U.S. owned facility fired a 'non-lethal' plastic bullet round to disperse prisoners, hitting an inmate - after one of them tried to climb a fence and others threw rocks at one guard tower.
The incident happened in Camp 6, the area reserved for cooperative captives where the government just spent $744,000 on renovations that included a soccer field for prisoners.
The military says it was just a ploy to win attention.
The White House was criticised for its decision last week to allow Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, Osama bin Laden's son in law, to come to New York to stand trial in a federal court rather than detaining him indefinitely at Guantanamo.
The allegations of hunger strikes and poor conditions for the prisoners have only started to come to light in recent weeks, following revelations made attorneys in the United States representing detainees.
One prisoner, Bashir al-Marwalah, told his attorney in a February 22nd letter that, 'We are in danger. One of the soldiers fired on one of the brothers a month ago. Before that, they send the emergency forces with M-16 weapons into one of the brothers' cell blocks.'
The letter, obtained by NBC News, went on to say that a copy of the Quran had been damaged during a search of cells that guards were undertaking.
'We asked that this be announced to the media so that people know what the Obama administration is doing to prisoners now. All the brothers are now on a hunger strike in protest of mistreatment and the desecration of the Quran,' the letter concluded.
Target practice: US Marines take part in marksmanship qualification at the military base
Taking aim: US Marines point their guns at targets and shoot as part of their marksmanship qualification
A Desmarest's hutia, a moderately sized rodent referred to by resident's of Guantanamo Naval Base as a banana rat, walks on a fence at Camp X-Ray
A US Marine guard tower overlooks the Northeast gate leading into Cuba territory at Guantanamo Bay
Weeds and flowers grow near the fence at Camp X-Ray, a prison formerly used to house detainees
A joint letter sent by a dozen lawyers representing clients at Guantanamo was delivered to Navy Rear Adm. John W. Smith, the commander of the Joint Task Force at the base earlier this week.
They allege that some prisoners are 'coughing up blood' and 'losing consciousness.'
Navy Captain. Robert Durand said the claims are sensational and that currently six detainees are on hunger strike while five are being force fed through tubes.
He said that over the past 11-years, this number is consistent with previous hunger strikes.
He conveyed that everything was under control at Camp 6, where the 'mass hunger strike' was taking place and the most permissive of the camps at Guantanamo.
Looking out: The Northeast gate marks the end of U.S. soil as the road leads into Cuba
Road to Cuba: Barbed wire lines the fence at the northeast gate which leads into Cuba
No photography signs are posted on the fence surrounding Camp Delta
An ankle shackle used by prisoners during meetings with their lawyers is seen on the floor of the conference room at Camp VI
'In broad terms, what we are seeing is a coordinated effort by detainees and their attorneys to take routine camp events and create a false picture of conditions,' he wrote in an email to NBC News.
'Every day, to some degree, there are a few hunger strikers, a few detainees who assault or threaten guards. To describe the current conditions in the camp as 'deteriorating' is patently false.'
'After a detainee attempted to climb the fence', on the facilities new $744,000 soccer field and a 'small crowd of detainees began throwing rocks at the guard tower.'
'After repeated warnings were ignored, the guard force was forced to employ appropriate crowd-dispersal measures, in accordance with standard operating procedures,' Durand wrote.
Durand confirmed that a 'non-lethal round', was used and 'hit a detainee'.
The incident marks an unprecedented escalation of tension between Guantanamo officials, inmates and the lawyers who represent them.
Only once before have Guantanamo prisoners reportedly been fired on but details of the incident were never confirmed.
This recent increase in stories coming out of Guantamano Bay, including hidden cameras, piles further pressure onto President Obama whose decision to keep the prison open despite an earlier promise to close it was labelled hypocritical and was widely criticised.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2291476/Inside-Guantanamo-Bay-Harry-Potter-films-hire-strawberries-tea-shoes-laid-bed.html#ixzz2NGN0gJmv
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