WASHINGTON, May 11 (UPI) -- The Pentagon says it's thinking of allowing family visitations at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to ease inmate isolation.
Pentagon aides say they have been in discussion with members of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which monitors conditions at the detention center about a visitation program, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
Some Republicans are against providing family members access to the naval base in Cuba. The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon R-Calif., inserted language into an early version of legislation authorizing Defense Department activities banning "any person who is a family member of an individual detained at Guantanamo to visit the individual."
That would not preclude any visitation program underwritten by the Red Cross, the Post said.
A Red Cross spokesman said the organization doesn't comment on its private discourse with the U.S. government. Red Cross spokesman, Simon Schorno, said "regardless of where detainees are held, particularly in the context of long-term detention, the ICRC will always work for the detainees and their families to be in contact with one another, including through family visits."
