A subsidiary of a company once run by Vice President Dick Cheney has won a $9.7 million contract to build more cells for terrorist suspects at a naval base in Cuba, the Navy announced Friday.
The 204 new cells will expand by one-third the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The high-security prison is nearly full, with 564 suspected al-Qaida or Taliban prisoners captured during the war on terrorism.
Brown & Root Services, a subsidiary of the Halliburton Co., will build the new cells and is expected to finish them by the end of October. Cheney, a former defense secretary, was chairman and CEO of the Houston-based company from 1995 to 2000.
The Guantanamo prison – as well as the military's holding of prisoners without charging them or giving them access to lawyers – has drawn criticism from civil and human rights groups. The Bush administration says the Guantanamo detainees are illegal fighters and are not eligible to be treated as prisoners of war under international conventions.
The new cells, like the others at the prison known as Camp Delta, will be made out of steel mesh and measure six feet, eight inches wide by eight feet long. Each will contain a bed, sink and toilet.
Though the new construction at Camp Delta would mean space for more than 800 people, officials previously have said they may expand the prison eventually to hold 2,000.
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