In the days of the Cold War, secret prisons were places where Communist dictators dispatched their political dissidents on trumped up charges, often never to be heard from again.
Back then, Americans would shake their heads in disapproval at those reports and say, "That can't happen here."
But it can - and has.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons opened its first "secret prison" in 2007 in Terre Haute, Ind., and a second in Marion, Ill., in 2008. Both are special units inside larger federal prisons - a prison within a prison.
The U.S. government doesn't call them "secret prisons," though. Instead they devised the far more Orwellian "Communications Management Units," since people held in them face much greater restrictions on their contact with the outside world than other prisoners.
"The CMUs were opened secretly, and in many people's opinion, illegally. They didn't go through any administrative oversight. And only until years later did we start seeing some language describing what these prison units are supposed to do," investigative reporter and TED senior fellow Will Potter told The Real News Network in an October interview.
It's mostly because of Potter's investigative work into these secret prisons that the public has any idea they exist.
The idea for the secret prisons grew out of Bush administration concerns that under ordinary rules, imprisoned terrorists could communicate with terrorists overseas.
They fit a pattern of other troubling facilities created as part of the war on terror, including "black sites" such as the notorious Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Stare Kiejkuty in Poland.
The black sites, and in particular the harsh treatment of the prisoners, created a lot of international legal headaches for the United States.
No one has alleged any torture at the U.S. secret prisons (so far). But what is happening at these facilities should trouble every American...
How the Secret Prisons Violate American Ideals
You see, not all of the 60 to 70 prisoners held in the U.S.-based secret prisons are terrorists. In fact, few of these prisoners have any connection to terrorism.
Just as in the Communist world during the Cold War, most of those selected for the "special treatment" of the CMU are political prisoners.
"We found out through legal proceedings and open records requests that the government sent some people to CMUs because of their, quote, anti-government and anti-corporate view," Potter said. "For other prisoners I think it is quite clearly because of their race and religion."
To be clear, all of those held in the secret prisons did commit crimes. But how they ended up in the CMUs appears to have a lot more to do with what they believe than what they've done.
It was only this year that the U.S. government codified the criteria for who belongs in a CMU. According to the Bureau of Prisons, the CMUs are for those with "inspirational significance" - more Orwellian doublespeak for people who promote ideas the government doesn't like.
"[That's a] very benign and quite brilliant way of describing what I think in any other environment would be considered political prisons for political prisoners," Potter told The Real News Network.
How an Environmental Activist Landed in a Secret Prison
Potter cited the example of Daniel McGowan, a CMU prisoner he was able to visit. McGowan is a climate change activist who was sent to prison for arson, a crime he committed as part of a radical environmentalist group. But McGowan falls far short of the threat represented by Islamic terrorists.
For that matter, many of the Muslims in the secret prisons at best have weak links to terrorism. "Many of them have connections to very dubious terrorism prosecutions that involve FBI informants and potential entrapment," Potter said.
In addition, most of the people sent to the secret prisons weren't considered significant threats by the prison system beforehand. McGowan, for example, had been held in a low-security facility before getting sent to a CMU.
"He didn't have anything on his record prior to going to prison or after being incarcerated that would reflect this need for heightened security measures, which I think makes it even more clear of being singled out because of his political beliefs," Potter said.
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How the transfers occur is also chilling.
Inmates Moved to CMUs Without Explanation
"All the prisoners I've talked to were transferred to the CMU without any warning," Potter said. "They were just notified in the middle of the night or early morning, and then sent off to this secretive unit without explanation. When they asked for some opportunity to appeal their designation, or some explanation for what has happened and why they're there, they were either ignored or answered in very simplistic terms, and not really elaborated."
That's why these secret prisons are so disturbing. In just a few short years, they've morphed dangerously beyond their original mission of providing a more secure environment for members of global terror networks to places to park political undesirables. These CMUs are veering closer and closer to the Soviet Union's gulag system minus the hard labor.
For now, you still have to commit an actual crime to land in a secret prison. But history has shown that sufficiently motivated governments have no problem inventing crimes for those it wants to stash in secret prisons.
And these American secret prisons are not going away.
"There's a move to make these facilities permanent now rather than experimental," Potter said. "And we don't know how that's going to play out."
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Related Articles:
- The Real News Network: "Little Guantanamos" in the United States
- TED: The Secret U.S. Prisons You've Never Heard of Before
About the Author
David Zeiler, Associate Editor for Money Morning at Money Map Press, has been a journalist for more than 35 years, including 18 spent at The Baltimore Sun. He has worked as a writer, editor, and page designer at different times in his career. He's interviewed a number of well-known personalities - ranging from punk rock icon Joey Ramone to Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Over the course of his journalistic career, Dave has covered many diverse subjects. Since arriving at Money Morning in 2011, he has focused primarily on technology. He's an expert on both Apple and cryptocurrencies. He started writing about Apple for The Sun in the mid-1990s, and had an Apple blog on The Sun's web site from 2007-2009. Dave's been writing about Bitcoin since 2011 - long before most people had even heard of it. He even mined it for a short time.
Dave has a BA in English and Mass Communications from Loyola University Maryland.