As a Muslim chaplain at the American naval base in Guantnamo Bay, James Yee was used to hearing about the harsh realities of prison life. Little did he know that he would soon become a prisoner himself.
Yee told an audience of more than 100 people in a speech Monday about the secretive and controversial home to many of the government's terrorism detainees as "Gitmo."
In September 2003, while heading home from Cuba on a brief leave of absence, Yee was arrested by the United States and accused of espionage and spying. He soon found himself in isolation on a prison ship and being treated the same or even worse, he contends, than the prisoners he once counseled.
Yee told the audience that after his arrest he was first put into a kind of shackle called a "three-piece suit" and was given black sensory deprivation goggles and ear covers.
His family only found out where he was 10 days after he was jailed when the government leaked news of his arrest to the press.
He has since received an honorable discharge from the military, had all charges against him dropped and written a book about his experience.
While the military said Yee carried classified papers with him at the time of his arrest, Yee said he only had internet printouts about Syria for a research paper he was writing for a course on Middle Eastern politics.
Yee said he believes he was arrested because military officials were inexperienced and overzealous and because he is Chinese.
He said he never received an apology from the military and still wants one.
Yee, who is now 39 years old, was raised a Lutheran in the New Jersey suburbs, but converted to Islam in his 20s because he was interested in the religion and had an inspiring "Malcolm X-like experience" during a trip to Mecca.
His role at Guantnamo prior to his arrest was to advise the camp commander about Islam, the religion of many of the prisoners, and to listen to them.
Yee said he heard stories of abuse, such as prisoners who were shackled and placed prostrate on the ground in a "satanic circle" while officials shouted at them that their real god was Satan.
Yee also said that once a prisoner inadvertently left in an unlocked cell apparently tried to lock three guards searching the neighboring cell into that cell. He said a fourth guard came over and began beating the prisoner on the back of the head with a military radio. Yee did not see it happen but came in time to find the evidence.
"The pool of blood was fresh," he said.
Nevertheless he does not believe closing Guantnamo would end what he thinks is an ineffective and abusive program designed to coax information out of prisoners.
"In accepting torture, it damages the reputation of the U.S.," Yee told The Dartmouth. "We've lost that status of being the beacon of human rights because of Abu Ghraib and Guantnamo."
Students in attendance said they found the speech an interesting window into what really goes on in the hidden world of prisoner interrogation.
"Here's someone who has actually been down there saying everything the media said is true," Chetan Mehta '08 said.
