Well over a decade has passed since the first prisoner arrived in Guantánamo Bay, making it the longest-standing war prison in U.S. history. Almost 800 men have passed through Guantánamo’s cells. Today, 40 men remain. Fashioned as an “island outside the law” where terrorism suspects could be detained without process and interrogated without restraint, Guantánamo has been a catastrophic failure on every front. It is long past time for this shameful episode in American history to be brought to a close.

[Last updated in May 2018]

Number of men imprisoned at Guantanamo by the Department of Defense since the prison opened on January 11, 2002: 779

Number of men still imprisoned at Guantanamo as of May 2018: 40

Number of men still imprisoned at Guantanamo after being cleared for release by the government: 5

Number of prisoners not charged with a crime and not cleared for release: 26

Amount it costs to imprison a single detainee at Guantanamo: more than $11 million per year

Amount it would cost per year to imprison in a U.S. federal prison a single individual found guilty of a crime: $31,977.65

Number of prisoners released by the Bush administration: 532

Number of prisoners released by the Obama administration: 197

Age of the youngest prisoner ever held at Guantanamo: 13

Age of the oldest prisoner ever held at Guantanamo: 89

Number of children the U.S. imprisoned at Guantanamo: 21

Number of FBI agents who reported abusive treatment of Guantanamo prisoners: More than 200

Number of prisoners tortured in CIA secret prisons overseas before transfer to Guantananmo: At least 26

Prisoners who have died in custody: 9

7 by apparent suicide

1 as a result of an apparent heart attack

1 of cancer

The youngest death by apparent suicide at Guantanamo was Yassser Talal Al Zahrani who was captured at age 16 and died at age 21.

Percentage of prisoners captured by American troops: 5%

Percentage of prisoners reportedly tuned over to Coalition forces in response to a bounty offer: 86%

Amoung offered by the U.S. to Pakistani and Afghan villagers to turn someone in: "Millions of dollars… Enough money to take care of your family, your village, your tribe for the rest of your life."

Number of terrorism suspects prosecuted in federal court since 9/11: More than 500

Number of Guantanamo prisoners convicted by illegitimate military commissions: 8

3 of these convictions have been reversed

6 of these convictions were obtained through plea deals

1 of those convictions was in a contested trial

1 defendant chose not to participate in his trial

Of those convicted, 5 have already been transferred home and 3 remain in detention

Number of Guantanamo prisoners transferred for prosecution in federal court: 1

Number of military prosecutors who resigned or requested reassignment as of September 2008 because of concerns that the Guantanamo military commissions were unjust: 7

Amount spent to run the Guantanamo military commissions per year: $91 million

To learn more visit: https://www.aclu.org/close-guantanamo