Movie Nite at Gitmo

In an obvious attempt to soften up the prison's vile image, the US military has announced that the detainees will now have a movie nite, among other amenities. (Don't count on Escape From Alcatraz being shown there any time soon.)

A year after three suicides and a riot prompted a security overhaul, the military hopes to provide “increased mental stimulation” with expanded recreation areas, Navy Rear Adm. Mark H. Buzby said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“There are certainly benefits to giving them outlets other than sitting in their cell or sitting in their recreation cell for hours at a time with nothing else to exercise their mind or think about other than their situation,” Buzby said.

And it took them how many years to figure this out?

The immediate changes are in Camp 4, a communal section reserved for those detainees considered the most compliant. In recent weeks, the military started allowing detainees to watch soccer matches and preapproved programs such as nature documentaries and episodes of “Deadliest Catch,” a popular Discovery Channel series about crab fishing crews off Alaska.

Until then, detainees did not have access to television except when interrogators offered it as a reward.

Authorities also built a new classroom inside Camp 4 so detainees — some of whom are illiterate — could more easily study Pashto and Arabic, with one leg manacled to the floor. They have also begun looking for an English teacher.

The roughly 45 detainees in Camp 4 sleep in dorm-like rooms and can spend up to 19 hours a day outside. They were also recently allowed a vegetable garden.

Most detainees are in Camps 5 and 6, maximum-security facilities where they are confined alone in solid-wall cells.

In Camp 6, the newest prison, [that was built by Halliburton -catnip] military officials said they are cutting windows into the high concrete wall of the outdoor recreation area and expanding it so more can go outside at one time. They are also expanding the recreation area of Camp 5, the facility generally reserved for detainees who are considered least compliant or of greatest intelligence value.

It's kind of ironic that I wrote this just last week:

Maybe next week we'll be reading that there are actually amusement park rides at Gitmo too - aka "Gitmo Disney"™ - which the Pentagon has been keeping under wraps to avoid having a huge flurry of crazed tourists flocking to the heaven-like facility torturing gulag for their winter vacations.

Well, the roller coaster hasn't quite been announced yet, but stay tuned.

I wonder if they'll be forced to watch 24 or, Dog forbid, Bill O'Reilly.