Detainees may face harsh U.S. prison life

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Terror detainees now being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would face vastly harsher conditions if they are moved to U.S. federal prisons, experts say.

If they are transferred to "supermax" prisons as indicated in May by U.S. President Barack Obama, detainees such as alleged Sept. 11, 2001, mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed would never see such Guantanamo amenities as exercise bikes and movie-watching privileges again, The Washington Post reported.

Kirk Lippold, a senior military fellow for the advocacy group Military Families United, told the newspaper: "Unless the administration plans on spending millions of taxpayer dollars on drastically changing the conditions at the supermax (facilities), then moving the detainees to a prison like (the supermax prison in) Florence (Colo.) would result in less humane conditions for detainees and less security for all Americans."

The Post said that at Florence, terror detainees would be sealed off for 23 hours per day in cells with four-inch-wide windows and concrete furniture, with only one hour's exercise per day allowed alone in a tiny yard -- and only if they demonstrate good behavior.