U.S. Army opens facility to media after major transfer

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. -- The U.S. Army opened its newestcorrectional facility for a media inspection after transferring ahigh-profile detainee to the Kansas facility.

"This was extraordinary, and the Army doesn't anticipate doing itagain," said Col. Thomas Collins, the Pentagon spokesmanparticipating in the media tour.

Pfc. Bradley Manning allegedly placed more than 100,000classified government documents and other pieces of governmentinformation on his personal computer.

This material allegedly has been showing up on various Internetsites around the world. The Army transferred the private from aconfinement facility in Virginia.

The Joint Regional Correctional Facility opened in October with acapability to house pretrial detainees, as well as about 500prisoners with sentences of five years or less. Guantanamo wasn'tdesigned for long-term confinement prior to a court martial, saidLt. Col. Dawn Hilton, the Ft. Leavenworth correctional facilitycommander.

The new facility houses Mr. Manning and nine other pre-trialdetainees. For the last week, Mr. Manning has been undergoing arigorous assessment.

Since pretrial detainees haven't been convicted, they aresegregated from the general population, Mrs. Hilton said.

Pre-trial detainees are housed in a standard 8 foot by 10 footcell that includes a locker, bookshelf, metal table, sink andtoilet. There are four cells in a pod, which contains a television,phone, shower and commons area.

Unlike regular cells, there is only one bunk and the cell has awindow. All prisoners receive medical treatment, including dentaland mental health services.

Providing a prisoner follows the rules, they're entitled to threehours daily recreation, can receive visitors and mail, watch sometelevision and weekend movies, listen to a radio, use the libraryand participate in religious services. But all prisoners are deniedaccess to the Internet.

Mr. Manning remains in the custody of the Washington militarydistrict. In Mr. Manning's case, the next action will be an Article32 hearing, the equivalent of a grand jury review. At the presenttime, no court date is scheduled.

Unlike pretrial detainees, the general population prisoners havea chance to earn some new skills while in the prison.

Prisoners are encouraged to participate in the barber or sewingprograms. With 13 months of study and training, a prisoner can earna Kansas barber's license, Mrs. Hilton said.

The sewing program allows prisoners to give something back to theArmy. The Army harvests damaged items, such as helmets and armoredvests, on the battlefield. The items are sent to the prison forrestoration. Typically, a vest can be repaired for $100, whilebuying a new one cost $300.

It's interesting to note that the new prison costs about $14million a year to operate, and the sewing facility will save theArmy about $14 million this year, said Col. Eric Belcher, commanderof the 15th Military Police Brigade.

Marshall White can be reached at marshall.white@newspressnow.com.