U.S. jails could handle Guantanamo detainees, study says
BY Associated Press
Thursday, November 29, 2012
11/29/12 at 6:00 AM
WASHINGTON - The controversial detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could be closed and the 166 detainees being held there could be absorbed safely by U.S. prisons, a government report says.
Many of the detainees are accused of plotting terrorist acts against the United States.
"This report demonstrates that if the political will exists, we could finally close Guantanamo without imperiling our national security," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the Senate Intelligence Committee chairwoman who released the Government Accountability Office study Wednesday.
The GAO study shows that U.S. prisons already hold 373 prisoners convicted of terrorism in 98 facilities across the country.
The study said there are six Defense Department prisons and 98 Justice Department prisons that could take the detainees, but it does say that existing facilities likely would need to be modified and current inmates may need to be relocated to make room for the new arrivals.
President Barack Obama ordered the closing of the Guantanamo's detention facility when he took office in 2009, but that was blocked by a Republican-led bill that cut off funding to move the detainees to the U.S.
Original Print Headline: Study: U.S. jails could handle Guantanamo detainees
