Inside Guantanamo

On first impressions, the infamous Guantanamo is a stark contrast to the image the world has of this place -- a dark hole where hundreds of people were tortured between 2002 and 2004, and hundreds are still being held without being charged.

"They bring their prayer rugs out here. They bring their books out here. It's a communal environment where they can interact with each other. We have picnic tables set up down there," said a guard.

Administrators boast of state-of-the-art medical facilities provided 24 hours a day, and of extensive recreation options, ranging from art lessons to movie hour, for prisoners who follow the rules.

In the sparkling kitchen, the choices are varied. The diet is excellent, even fattening at over 4000 calories a day.

From the outside, GTMO appears to be a modern, humane and efficiently managed prison.

However, released detainees have reported abuse - beatings, sleep deprivation, being forced to lie in a fetal position for over 24 hours without breaks until they soiled themselves.

"At some level every body they interrogated was subject to sleep deprivation and solitary confinement and so on," said Shayana Kadidal, Center for Constitutional Rights.

Seven hundred seventy five detainees were brought to Guantanamo after 9/11. Almost 500 were released in 2006 without charge, and approximately 229 remain with an uncertain future.

"There's no amount of movies or good food or you know, whatever they offer that can take away the fact that these people have not been charged with a crime," said Larry Cox, Executive Director, Amnesty International, USA.

Military Commanders here boast that over 300 journalists have visited the camp this year alone but even in the age of Obama, access is limited to what officials want you to see and hear - and we were not allowed to talk to detainees.

Although the prison authorities are demonstrating a greater sensitivity to the media, what goes on now behind these doors is anybody's guess.