Suspects moved to cells with arrows pointing to Mecca

The 564 alleged Taliban and al-Qa'ida fighters at the American naval base in Guantanamo Bay, including the seven Britons, are being held at Camp Delta, a semi-permanent facility the authorities say could accommodate up to 2,000.

The prisoners were moved to Camp Delta from the makeshift facility of Camp X-Ray earlier this year. Whereas Camp X-Ray consisted of a series of metal cages partly open to the elements with prisoners sleeping on mats, Camp Delta is far closer to the conditions in a normal prison. Each cell has an indoor lavatory, a wash basin with running water and a permanent bed, with an arrow embossed on the metal frame pointing to Mecca to help the prisoners pray.

The cells at Camp Delta are slightly smaller than those at Camp X-Ray and measure 8 feet by 6 feet 8 inches, with 8-foot ceilings. Each has a large wire-mesh window. Some cells have a sea view.

Earlier this year The Independent visited Guantanamo Bay as workmen were preparing to break ground to start building Camp Delta. The site is located at the eastern end of the base close to the ocean. While the cells are not air- conditioned, the authorities say they are cooled by the constant sea breezes on the eastern end of the island. The location of Camp Delta certainly appeared to offer greater access to the breeze than Camp X-Ray, which was in a sun-trap at the bottom of a valley.

Camp Delta's design also limits the contact captives have with one another. At Camp X-Ray the prisoners were able to communicate freely through the mesh walls of their cells, leading to concerns that leaders might emerge and influence others.

At Camp Delta, the captives have proved to be more compliant. Brigadier-General Rick Baccus of the Army National Guard and commander of Task Force 170, which runs the camp, said: "You're going to get some individuals who are not going to follow a guard's instructions. X-Ray was a less secure facility for the military police that have to deal with them on a daily basis."

In other ways conditions and the daily routine at Camp Delta are similar to those at Camp X-Ray. Prisoners receive three meals a day. A typical breakfast consists of pita bread, rice, curried eggs and peas, milk and fresh fruit, or hash browns, pita bread, a boiled egg, milk and fresh fruit.

A typical dinner consists of rice, pita bread, meat and vegetable curry, milk, fresh fruit and margarine. A variant might be rice, baked fish, stew sauce, spinach, orange or orange juice, milk and bread and margarine. Lunch is provided in the form of a vegetarian military-style Meal Ready to Eat or MRE. A naval hospital dietitian, Lieutenant Donna Sporrer, said: "I like to believe they're eating a lot better here than they were wherever they were before they got here. We take pretty good care of them."

Prisoners are allowed visits from the Red Cross though all have been refused access to a lawyer. They are permitted to send mail, the contents of which are checked by the authorities.