WASHINGTON – US federal prisons for the past three years have housed special units filled disproportionately with Muslim inmates whose every communication with the outside world is strictly monitored. Known as “Guantanamo North,” the so-called Communication Management Units (CMU) were secretly opened in 2007 in maximum security prisons in Terre Haute, Indiana and Marion, Illinois and currently have 71 prisoners, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) told AFP. The US public radio network, NPR, recently published the names, nationalities and reasons for incarceration of 86 of more than 100 detainees who have passed through them, information never before disclosed by the Bureau of Prisons. NPR found that a number of detainees were convicted of terrorism offenses but mixed in with them were white supremacists and common criminals. The aim is to “ensure the safe, secure, and orderly running of BOP facilities, and to protect the public,” the bureau said in documents obtained by AFP. afp
