U.S. Military Detention Camp at Guantanamo Bay

The human rights group Amnesty International has criticized the detention and treatment of inmates at the U.S. military detention camp at Guantanamo Bay but Acworth police Chief Mike Wilkie, says he didn't see anything there that alarmed him. “Most of the prisoners are held in individual cells, let out at brief times for exercise and fed a 5000-calorie-a-day diet,” Wilkie said. "It is a different picture of this thing from the larger media. It was like one large county jail. The prison had the same smell as any other prison-a mix pf pine sol and human perspiration.

There are about 300 detainees being held there, most have not been tried. I thought they were being treated as well if not better than prisoners in an American prison." Wilkie said.

Also on the trip was a former police Officer Brent Brown," I felt like we saw a true picture." said Brown. We had unqualified access to all areas .There were no restrictions to who we talked to, and we walked every camp." "I've seen jails and I've seen prisoners,” Brown said." It's a true detention facility and extremely well run. Probably better than any prison in the federal Bureau of Prisons." However, conversations with detainees themselves were not permitted.

The visitors were asked to keep their voices down when the Muslim inmates were praying, "They asked us to be respectful of that." Brown said.

Detainees have gone on hunger strikes, and some have hung themselves with their bedding. Commanders at the center said after a prisoner refuses to eat nine meals, they are fed through a tube that goes up the nasal passage and into the stomach.

The trails of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and five others are scheduled to begin later this year. If convicted, they face the death penalty. "The folks there are people who have been fighting our soldiers, fighting against the U.S. They are terrorists. They don't give up." Wilkie said.

The visitors ate the same food served to the prisoners-chicken, salad and rice. Prisoners who are compliment live in dormitory type housing. The other camps are of medium and maximum security, Brown said.

Wilkie and Brown visited the camp March 27 with a group of civilians on a military flight. The Atlanta Metropolitan council of the Navy League of the United States, a citizens group, coordinated the trip with the U.S. Southern Command, which is based in Miami, said Chuck Stevenson, the group's past president.