Less than six months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America, the United States set up one of the most infamous prisons in U.S. history.

Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo) Prison was established in January 2002, and has held almost 800 prisoners over the last 11 years, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

The prison detains children as young as 13, and adults as old as 98. Despite statements from the government about closing the facility, it still runs the same operations.

It is time for Guantanamo Bay to be closed down for good.

It cost more than $12 million to run the prison in 2011 alone.  It would cost far less to hold these prisoners in other detention facilities.

Not only do the costs run extremely high at Gitmo, the actions of  U.S. soldiers stationed there in Cuba are in violation of the Geneva Convention that prohibit the use of torture, outrages upon personal dignity, and humiliating and degrading treatment of detainees.

According to the Center for Constitutional Rights, some forms of “enhanced interrogation” include physical abuse, psychological abuse, medical abuse, sexual harassment, rape, and religious and cultural abuse. Detainees are often housed in cages with metal or wood ceilings and concrete floors, exposing them to the elements and diseased pests.

The Center for Constitutional Rights also reported the cells are sometimes heated or cooled to uncomfortable levels for hours at a time. Prisoners also are kept from sleeping by being forced to switch cells after a small period of rest throughout the night.

Prisoners also experience physical beatings as they are thrown around, dropped, slammed into walls, or attacked by the guards.

Some prisoners are short shackled and forced into extremely uncomfortable positions for hours at a time that  have resulted in permanent back and joint problems. Some prisoners have even been left in solitary confinement for more than a year, resulting in serious mental deterioration and psychosis.

Many prisoners being detained have also been refused proper medical care so soldiers can try to extract information from them. In a report that was released on The Center for Constitutional Rights website, prisoners have also been sexually harassed by interrogators, and have been raped by guards.

The detainees are also subjected to humiliation as they are sometimes stripped naked and photographed in front of other prisoners.

Guards will violate prisoners religious customs by desecrating the Quran by flushing it down the toilet, stomping and kicking it, or by shaving prisoners beards who grow them out of respect for Muhammad.

Torture is defined as forced anguish of the body and mind. These forms of “enhanced interrogation” go well beyond that definition considering that there have been several successful attempts at suicide at Gitmo.  Many detainees have said they have considered suicide because they are denied due process, a very serious violation of the United States Constitution.

Of the 779 prisoners brought to Gitmo in 2002, 55 percent of detainees were determined to have no affiliation to terrorist organizations, while a mere 8 percent were associated with Al-Qaeda, according to a 2006 survey on the ACLU’s website.

The United States is a country that has always stood for freedom and justice.  How can these statements be upheld with such serious violations of basic human rights?

Is it worth spending millions of dollars on a prison that violates the Geneva Convention? Do the ends justify the means, even if the means are corrupt or will do more damage than will help the current situation?

Keeping Gitmo open is a waste of time, money, and effort. Above all, it violates American morals and ideals, and disgraces our nation.