Guantanamo Bay persists as a geriatric detention center 25 years after opening
Twenty-five years after its launch, Guantanamo Bay still holds fifteen detainees, most of them elderly, with no imminent plan for closure.
Guantanamo Bay opened in 2002 and over the next two and a half decades detained roughly 780 individuals; today only fifteen remain, most of whom have been held for more than a decade. Retired Marine Maj. Gen. Michael Lehnert, the base's first commander, describes the site as a costly geriatric prison with no current push for shutdown. While the Bush administration moved about 540 detainees, Obama repatriated another two hundred, and Biden transferred twenty-five, the facility still houses three prisoners eligible for release, including a stateless Rohingya whose transfer has stalled since 2010.
Congressional bans on moving detainees to U.S. supermax prisons and limited political will have prolonged the stalemate. A military judge recently set a June 2028 trial date for alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, highlighting the ongoing legal complexities surrounding the remaining inmates.
Why it matters
The continued operation of Guantanamo raises legal, financial and human-rights concerns for the United States and the world.
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