Makeshift prison at Guantanamo reaches capacity

Sunday, February 17th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) _ The makeshift prison at Guatanamo Bay holding suspected terrorists officially hit full capacity Saturday after 12 more men filled out paperwork and filed into their small chain-link and cement cells.

The dozen men arrived late Friday, bringing the total number of detainees at the camp to 300, said Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert, commander of the task force operating the detention facility on this remote military outpost. Two of the new arrivals were brought in on stretchers, requiring medical attention.

Camp X-Ray actually has 320 temporary, open-air cells of chain-link fence walls set on a cement slab. However, officials plan to keep 20 units empty.

``That gives us some flexibility,'' said Col. Terry Carrico, a commander, ``in case we would have to isolate anybody for medical reasons or for any indiscipline.''

Most of the detainees, who spend their days praying and eating in their 8-by-8 cells, have been interrogated at least once, Lehnert said.

Military interrogators are still trying to separate the Taliban fighters from al-Qaida and determine how much they knew about the network that planned the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

``Each day, we get a clearer picture of our detainees and the extent of their involvement in terrorist activity,'' Lehnert said. ``I use the analogy of a sweater. As you begin to unravel one piece at a time, a piece of innocuous information from one detainee joined with another piece of information elsewhere may pull up something useful to us.''

Representatives of the International Red Cross have access to Camp X-Ray. Inmates can be seen from afar in their orange jumpsuits, pacing in their cells. Military officials have been fielding charges of inhumane treatment since the men were first captured and transported to Guantanamo on Jan. 11.

``What I try to tell all of the security forces is that it is important not to let your emotions get away with you,'' said Lehnert. ``We should not feel anger _ and we should not feel that they're our friends.''

He said the facility is being improved each day, both for the detainees and for the security forces guarding them. None of the detainees is considered a prisoner of war, the general said.

Plans are in the works _ pending congressional approval _ to build 408 permanent units on the base. That work would take roughly two months after legislators in Washington vote on the project.

But base officials would not discuss any specific plans they might have for the new units, or whether the new facilities would house more detainees from Afghanistan.