Guantanamo Bay Naval Station is located on southeastern Cuba, a small 45 square mile
American military station on lease from Cuba since 1903.
In the past it has been an important naval station, ensuring US military forces remained
close to the Caribbean and its many vitally important trade routes.
However in 2002 the US began construction of a detention camp where it would house suspected
terrorists that it ensnared in its global war on terror.
But just how secure is this facility?
Hello and welcome to another episode of The Infographics Show- today we're asking, is
it possible to escape from Guantanamo Bay?
The Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, or Gitmo as it's commonly known, is a prison facility
located inside the US's Guantanamo Bay Naval Station.
At the start of the US's war on terror a need for a secure housing facility for dangerous
suspected terrorists and insurgents was immediately identified by the US government, and thus
construction began on what would be known as Camp X-Ray, which would later be shut down
as Camp Delta, a 612 unit detention center, came online.
Camp Delta now houses Camps 1-6 as well as Camp Echo, where detainees are in-processed
upon arrival.
For three years the CIA also operated a small site known as “Penny Lane” which housed
special prisoners the agency tried to recruit as spies.
While the rest of the facility featured pretty sparse living quarters, Penny Lane had private
kitchens, showers, televisions, and beds with mattresses, all in a bid to encourage prisoners
to cooperate.
Nearly from the start of operations allegations of abuse and torture leaked to the press.
Condemned by the United Nations, the US argued that detainees at Gitmo were not guaranteed
Geneva Convention rights and protections, because they had specifically chosen not to
fight as regular soldiers or operate under a clear chain of command- terrorists and guerilla
fighters, the US argued, were not protected by Geneva conventions in place to protect
uniformed prisoners of war, men who’s nations chose to abide by international law should
be the only ones protected by that law.
If allegations of torture weren't enough however, soon it was revealed to the public that most
of the detainees couldn't be verified to have any actual links to terror organizations,
and instead had simply been combatants arrested by NATO troops.
Others had their links to terror networks greatly exaggerated, though a few were indeed
some of the most dangerous men in the world.
Because Guantanamo houses some of the world's most dangerous terrorists, specific information
about its security features is almost impossible to ascertain, however we asked a security
expert with six years experience securing priority level 1 resources for the US government
how a prisoner may in fact escape.
Our expert, which asked to remain anonymous, said that escape was likely impossible, but
every security has key vulnerabilities that can be defeated- the trick is being able to
defeat all of a security system's vulnerabilities one after the other in the limited amount
of time you have for an escape attempt, something which is simply not likely.
First off you're going to have to deal with the security personnel themselves.
What is known about internal security at Gitmo is that military police personnel conduct
constant rounds, making visual inspections of their prisoners every three minutes through
a window on the cell door.
Then there's the locking mechanism on the door itself, which is typically behind a half-inch
of steel and impossible to access.
Simply put, you aren't going to get out of your cell unless a guard lets you out, so
your best chance for escape is to get friendly with a guard.
If you're a particularly handsome man, try to woo one of the female guards- approximately
20% of Guantanamo Bay's prison staff is female.
You're going to be hard pressed to get through all the anti-terrorist indoctrination, but
hey, stranger things have happened.
If that's not possible though and you somehow manage to compromise the locking mechanism
on your door- our source wouldn't comment on how to do this- then you're going to have
to deal with that pesky constantly patrolling guard, checking in on you every three minutes.
Luckily for you though, our source states that the greatest vulnerability of any security
system is always the human element- guards become complacent, and while at the start
of a shift those three minute checks may come so punctually you could set your watch by
them, as the hours creep by, specially at night, three minute checks are going to turn
into four minute checks, and then five, or six minute checks.
Eventually they may become even just hourly- bigger security lapses have happened at facilities
more sensitive than Gitmo.
Complacency and time is your friend.
Once you've figured out how to get out of your cell, simply wait.
Be a model inmate, don't rile up the guards, and lull them into a false sense of complacency.
Wait for a popular holiday such as thanksgiving or Christmas, when guards will have more on
their minds than just making the same boring, repetitive rounds they've made for months
on end.
That's when you make your escape.
There are however bound to be additional security features inside the prison facility's housing
units than just the door on your cell, and it's unlikely that you'll be able to defeat
these without raising the alarm.
Our source tells us that because of its small size, Gitmo enjoys the benefits of smaller
prison centers- better engineering and construction which eliminates many of the pitfalls of larger
complexes such as the large access shafts that pierced through the heart of Alcatraz.
Plus the small size of the prison complex lets the guards enjoy a much better guard-to-prisoner
ratio, which means more eyes on you than in a place with a larger population.
Assuming you make it outside however, you are almost certainly going to have to deal
with several layers of security fencing.
In most government facilities video cameras ring the entire perimeter, and are set up
so that each camera covers another's blind spot.
A central alarm monitoring center will typically have one or two operators responsible for
monitoring all interior and exterior alarms, and be able to instantly bring up any alarmed
sector of fence line on camera for a visual inspection.
A persistent alarm, or if the camera is mysteriously down for some reason, will prompt them to
send an armed patrol to make a physical sweep of the area.
So how can you defeat multiple layers of alarmed fenceline?
Well, much the same way as you defeat the interior security: prey on human fallibility.
Most secure facilities have three different types of sensors along their fences: the first
is a RaCon microwave sensor that detects movement between the fence lines, the second is a taut-wire
sensor which runs the length of the fenceline and detects climbing or cutting, and the third
is buried in the ground and designed to detect vibrations.
That's three security features to overcome in the span of just a few minutes- how could
you do it?
Though the physical security system is itself formidable, it will always have one significant
weakness: the human operators.
Most security personnel will spend their entire career with 99.99% of every alarm and incident
call being a false alarm.
This breeds a deep sense of complacency when training and professionalism dips amongst
a security force.
Some of the worst offenders though can be alarm operators themselves, whom typically
spend countless hours pulling up alarms along the perimeter which end up being nothing more
than just a rabbit or mouse scurrying about.
Add to that inclement weather, with winds pushing along debris and blowing on the fenceline,
and an alarm operator's board can light up like a christmas tree, inevitably leading
to them ignoring the majority of alarm calls for duration of the storm, or simply 'accessing'
them and telling security personnel to conduct regular patrols through the area.
Your task therefore is going to be to encourage an alarm operator to ignore the alarms you'll
soon be setting off.
This can be easily achieved, but will require great patience, and will require the help
of someone on the outside.
Your secret collaborator will report to the planned escape route two weeks before your
big escape, and camp out all night long outside the piece of fence line you'll be penetrating
while making sure they stay hidden from any security patrols.
For two entire weeks, your compatriot will be tasked with setting off at least two of
the three alarm systems on that piece of fence line, over and over again for hours on end,
every single night.
This can be achieved relatively easily- you can do things like attach a thin fishing line
to a piece of debris such as a small stick and hurl it over the fences and to the other
side, and then tug against the fences or drag it along the ground.
This will set off the alarms, but when an alarm operator pulls up the video feed they'll
only see a piece of random debris.
Alternatively you can also use the same tactic used by American infiltrators during the Cold
War against Soviet secure facilities- purchase a large amount of mice or other rodents, and
every night release several into the fenceline, one at a time, over the course of hours.
Seeing nothing but animals in the cameras, after several days of this the alarm operator
will be inclined to simply begin ignoring new alarms from that sector.
Repeat the procedure enough times, and chances are good that the alarm operator will get
sick of hearing the same alarm dozens of times night after night and simply access it, silencing
it and ignoring it.
Complacency is your greatest ally.
Escaping from Guantanamo Bay is likely impossible though due to the physical security located
inside the prison itself, though ironically the secure fencing is certainly the weakest
element to overcome.
Yet even if you manage to make it outside of the prison, you'll still be amidst a US
naval station, and any escape will have to take into consideration the US Navy's sea
and air resources, to include patrol craft
and helicopters.
How would you escape Guantanamo Bay?
Do we even need to keep Gitmo open anymore?
Let us know in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video called Craziest Prison Escapes!
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!”